ianguygil

Yes, agreed, they are looking into it. I know that you can deposit a personal cheque. I just need to give the specifics

Whenever we answer a question we look to see if it is on the Website. The business does a fantastic job of not just posting it in Thai and English in a consistent manner, but also in using what we call "Bangkok Bank English" and "Bangkok Bank Thai" so that it reads to be consistent with our corporate image.

I can only take the credit for giving them the right technology to do this, we use SharePoint which can support hundreds of languages. They (the business) put a huge effort into creating, updating and reviewing this content). Now we don't just have Thai and English. We are also expanding off into Putonghua (Chinese) and Japanese. Soon even more.

But Thai and English will remain the dominant languages for some time.

I should have this back tomorrow. Thanks

I will get some kind of a definitive response on this from our Product people. It is possible that these pages need to be updated to differentiate between what can be deposited (purchased by us) and get the short term clearing or what takes several weeks via snail mail.

The electronic clearing (presentment) system mentioned is in Thailand for domestic cheques sponsored by the BOT.

The other product I referred to is our own offering for international cheques.

More later, probably tomorrow.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BANGKOKBANK/PERSONALBANKING/DAILYBANKING/CURRENCYEXCHANGE/Pages/ForeignChequesDraftsBuyingService.aspx

You have helped myself and other TV members in the past Ian and we appreciate your help, don't let one idiot spoil it

Thanks, I plan to stay on as I have time.

I am not that thin skinned but I do reserve the right to tell people where to go when they are unreasonable. Such response would come from me personally.

Hope all is going well for you. Take care.

Ditto to what darrendsd said above.

And I expect you have had to put-up with not just one idiot but multiple idiots who just get down-right disrespectful sometimes. Unfortunately, there are just people like that in the world...preaching to the choir leader I know. There is quite a bit of flat-out wrong posts on ThaiVisa about Bangkok Bank products/services...and other Thai and foreign banks products/services....some people just seem clueless when it comes to some banking products/services. But fortunately most of those incorrect posts get countered with the correct info from other ThaiVisa members. And this is not to imply all Thai or foreign bank products/services are good deals and easily understandable...some are; some ain't in my opinion...many times you need to dig to get all the info and also make a personal effort to understand the info. Throw in the Thai-foreign language miscommunications that happen everyday and it can make more idiots come out from the bushes.

Thanks again for the assistance you provide ThaiVisa members when you have the time and you feel it's appropriate. I have found the few times I needed banking assistance that calling 1333 or visiting my local branch worked pretty well. And the English language info on the Bangkok Bank website is excellent....no other Thai bank comes close. And I sure wish I could get my mouth to speak better Thai as I know that would have helped in the few times I needed some assistance/info from my bank.

Pib

Thanks. I also see you spending a huge amount of time with useful posts to help others. That is admirable.

And your understanding of the fact that we are the foreigners in Thailand, and that Thai people speaking English is done as a kindness to us, is much appreciated by some of us.And that these people are doing their best, even if they do not sound like BBC or CNN newscasters.

Many people make hugely unkind comments about the English language skills of Thai people in service industries, including banking. I would suggest that they try speaking a foreign language like Thai in a US or UK bank branch and see where that gets them.

Thanks again, and you keep up the good work too.

Ian

You have helped myself and other TV members in the past Ian and we appreciate your help, don't let one idiot spoil it

Thanks, I plan to stay on as I have time.

I am not that thin skinned but I do reserve the right to tell people where to go when they are unreasonable. Such response would come from me personally.

Hope all is going well for you. Take care.

Just to be clear, Bill Payment is a requires all 3 parties to participate. We (and other banks) cannot just offer Bill Payment for a company/utility. That company needs to agree to use the service, and to interface to banks electronically so they can receive the Payment information (into their AR system).

We already have the Bill Payment setup on IB and other channels. But on the back end the "Biller" needs to get setup and some of them are not ready to do it.

If you want to IM me and tell me exactly which companies you want to pay, I can get our sales people to contact them. Thanks

As I have said I am definitely not an expert in banking in Cambodia and the only bank I know relatively well is ACLEDA

A couple of links which should help

http://www.khmer440.com/chat_forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18894

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293939-i9162-k5932386-ATM_charges-Cambodia.html

As one of my friends used to say in San Francisco...

You should put a little of the cash in each of your pockets. That way, in case you are searched and it is confiscated, at least you will have enjoyed it

It's a fair choice...

When I went to Cambodia/PP, I didn't really research ahead about the Cambodian banks, which ones charge ATM withdrawal fees and which one (Canadia) doesn't. It was just a quick holiday trip, so I hadn't concerned myself with it too much.

But now that I know most of the Cambodian banks charge a $5 U.S. or so ATM withdrawal fee on foreign card withdrawals, I'd be more attuned to the issue for the future.

And either way, it's good to know, and let others know, that both Canadia and ACLEDA have their branch and ATM locations posted and Google Mapped on their websites. So if someone is planning a trip, they can check for ATM availability nearby.

Best as I can see, the ACLEDA website says they have 51 ATMs in Phnom Penh, whereas the Canadia website seems to show some 30+ ATMs around PP, which isn't such a big city...

For saving $5 per withdrawal, I think I probably could manage to find a convenient Canadia location without too much trouble.

As evidenced by the amount of time you spend on this forum every day, you seem to have plenty of time on your hands, so your choice is entirely understandable.

Just a quick note to those of us who are more on the convenience side of the equation, rather than the saving side. These 2 banks have quite different presences in Cambodia.

Canadia Bank appears to have 40 branches (and 7 new sub branches being opened) whereas ACLEDA has 238 branches.

Canadia Bank has 72 ATMs with a plan to expand to 100. ACLEDA has 165 ATMs and when I was there their HQ was full of new ATMs being prepared for deployment (in fact it was hard to get into the lift because of this so we all took the stairs 7 floors)

ANZ meanwhile has only 19 branches but has 125 ATMs.

So you will see a huge difference in the profile of these banks

We have no interest in either bank. But just the difference in the physical presence of the 2 banks will make a huge difference in terms of convenience to those who don't mind paying a few dollars for the sake of convenience.

There are 2 sides to everything. Simply focusing on ATMs without fees will not serve the interests of all members of this forum.

Here you can see all the ACLEDA ATMs and Branches on GOOGLE Maps. Thanks.

http://www.acledabank.com.kh/kh/eng/cu_branchnetwork_atm.php

I have no idea.

Convenience is always a more important consideration than a small fee to me. Especially in a city like PP which is not easy to get around and not that pleasant to walk in.

Others may well feel differently, which is fine. Just my particular value is to be willing to pay for service and convenience as my time is valuable to me.

Enjoy

ACLEDA (the only bank I have met with in Cambodia) has more than 160 ATMs and growing. So finding one of their machines is not so hard. I have met their CEO, IT people etc. and this is an extremely well run and fast growing bank with some hugely innovative products. As far as I can see they dispense USD10; USD20; USD100 and KHR10,000 notes, but when I was there I could swear I cashed out a UNITY P2P payment in THB with 1,000 THB notes........

The other Canadia bank (I have never met them them so I don't know this bank) have about 70 ATMs it seems.

ACLEDA just won the Asian Banker aware for P2P Payments with their UNITY product. Just an excellent implementation in a tough environment....

I am assuming you are a business, not a Corporate, so Biz should meet your needs.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/OnlineBanking/BusinessBanking/SMEs/BiziBanking/Pages/BiBPage2.aspx#2

I am sorry. It was noted that I was not clear with this post.

Business comprises the vast majority of Juristic Person accounts in Thailand. It includes single person companies to those with a few hundred employees. These would use Business iBanking (Biz).

Corporates are the largest enterprises in Thailand. This would include the like of Thai Airways, Siam Cement, Minor Group, Toyota etc. They would use iCash.

To the OP

Firstly, we do not have a branch presence in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Please go to the following like to see where we do have branches

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/InternationalNetwork/Pages/Default.aspx

Secondly (and I think to the point) you can use your Bangkok Bank ATM card in Cambodia at most ATMs as they are on the same International ATM networks as we use. I recently used my Be 1st card at an ACLEDA Bank ATM card while on a business trip

Another item worth considering is that in Cambodia the Thai Baht and the USD are accepted almost everywhere in additiion to their local currency the Riall (spelling).

I hope this helps.

First, I bank with Bangkok Bank and they have been very responsive. Second, I was in Cambodia last week, and I had problems using the Thai baht while there. The US dollar though is not only welcome, but preferred. Just wish I could have found more places that would accept the baht. I travelled from Koh Kong to Phnom Penh to Bittanbang.

I was only in PP on business, not in other parts of the country. And as the post was about PP, I think he is pretty safe that THB will be accepted. I even found them happy to accept it in pretty small restaurants.

Another point I forgot to mention is that ACLEDA ATMs in PP dispense in 3 currencies, Riel, THB and USD. So you can even withdraw funds in the currency which is most convenient for you.

The Cambodian currency should be spent before you leave the country as it is not a currency which is broadly accepted overseas (if you think you get a lousy rate on THB abroad just try to exchange the Riel - we don't even quote it on our Website but we do the Lao Kip).

I am assuming you are a business, not a Corporate, so Biz should meet your needs.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/OnlineBanking/BusinessBanking/SMEs/BiziBanking/Pages/BiBPage2.aspx#2

To the OP

Firstly, we do not have a branch presence in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Please go to the following like to see where we do have branches

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/InternationalNetwork/Pages/Default.aspx

Secondly (and I think to the point) you can use your Bangkok Bank ATM card in Cambodia at most ATMs as they are on the same International ATM networks as we use. I recently used my Be 1st card at an ACLEDA Bank ATM card while on a business trip

Another item worth considering is that in Cambodia the Thai Baht and the USD are accepted almost everywhere in additiion to their local currency the Riall (spelling).

I hope this helps.

First, I bank with Bangkok Bank and they have been very responsive. Second, I was in Cambodia last week, and I had problems using the Thai baht while there. The US dollar though is not only welcome, but preferred. Just wish I could have found more places that would accept the baht. I travelled from Koh Kong to Phnom Penh to Bittanbang.

I was only in PP on business, not in other parts of the country. And as the post was about PP, I think he is pretty safe that THB will be accepted. I even found them happy to accept it in pretty small restaurants.

To the OP

Firstly, we do not have a branch presence in the Kingdom of Cambodia. Please go to the following like to see where we do have branches

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/InternationalNetwork/Pages/Default.aspx

Secondly (and I think to the point) you can use your Bangkok Bank ATM card in Cambodia at most ATMs as they are on the same International ATM networks as we use. I recently used my Be 1st card at an ACLEDA Bank ATM card while on a business trip

Another item worth considering is that in Cambodia the Thai Baht and the USD are accepted almost everywhere in additiion to their local currency the Riall (spelling).

I hope this helps.

I can't tell you how many "experts" I hear from who do not believe in chip and pin who finally get skimmed and end up losing lots of cash. Then they scream.

One guy I know was into only using ATMs in bank branches, always carefully examining the cardslot, making sure nobody was behind him. Bottom line was he relaxed or did not concentrate just once and lost a bundle.

If this was not a big problem do people really think that banks around the world would have spent the billions of USD required to move to this?

Anyway, you have the option with us. At this point there is no known way of duplicating Chip cards. And this is your best bet. We have 8,000 ATMs and growing. Being restricted just to our machines at this time in terms of inconvenience (you can't be that far from one) is surely easily offset by the huge increase in security.

Thanks to the OP for bringing this up.

I have raised this a few times before and have had various loonies criticising us because we have not managed to get the other Thai banks to adopt this international standard. As I have asked before (with no answer) quite how we are supposed to force our competitors to do something is beyond me (the regulators can do this, yes, but one competitor for another? I don't think so, except by providing a superior product to them, which is what we did)

The time is coming when they will have no choice as EMV will be required by the major CC companies, but for now we wanted to offer our customers a highly secure method for using ATM cards which is accepted in the vast majority of developed countries around the world. In fact the USA is one of the very few major markets where they are holding off on this, feeling that their AI engines they run on the back already provide a high level of protection so that their fraud rates are just a few basis points.

I think all should consider the costs of these kinds of efforts before they criticize. We have 8,000 ATMs and growning. A large percentage take EMV, and as we replace them we are constantly growing that percentage. We also had to upgrade the tens of thousands of merchant terminals (POS, cardswipe, whatever you want to call them) as they also take Debit cards which are now the same as ATM cards.

I won't answer all the other posts. Bottom line is there is currently no proven way to clone a Chip card (the chip is set in resin to make it tamper resistant). Cloning a magstripe can be done with any $10 card reader, including SQUARE. If you want to protect yourself from skimming, use one of our Chip cards.

Finally, if your ATM is "always" out of money, please just send me an IM and I will get somebody to look into that. Thanks

Finally, at long last, there is somebody out there.

In all the threads I have read on these ATM thefts and security, you are the first to raise you head above the parapet from within the Thai banking industry itself.

Welcome aboard.

You raise the subject of the costs to provide adequate security for the use of ATMs.

Vis a vis against constructing masses more branches, staffing them with an army of tellers, I think you must agree the costs are insignificant by comparison.

What really is at issue here is profits over security.

Whereby sadly the Thai banks have no incentive to update their security on their ATMs.

The Thai banks are not prepared to spend a small fraction of their profits, providing EMV chip card ATMs that provide dramatically increase security for their customers accounts.

In theory your bank is in a position to clean up against the competition, and as you only know too well customers reluctance to change banks, this is really a once in a lifetime golden opportunity for you.

Actually I have posted about this many times before. If needed I can search back and refer you to the posts. I have been aboard for about 4 years now...

As I said, I had one of the "fringe" commentators complaining to me that all the Thai banks had not done this and saying that it was our responsibility to do so. When I asked how we were supposed to force them he did not answer.

I am told by our ATM group that all of our ATMs now support Chip and PIN. So you can use these cards at any Bangkok Bank ATM in Thailand, and those of other banks in other countries. I was very surprised to learn this and I have asked for a confirmation, but I am also not on the Operational side of the Bank so I do not keep up with these things.........I will correct this if there was some miscommunication.

We do advertise this. We do offer to every customer when they apply for an ATM card. Some choose to take them, others insist on the old magstripe so they can use them on any other Bank ATM in Thailand.

But to change to a card that will only work in that BBL ATM and finding them so often empty or low (normally take out larger amounts) does not help me decide to change to chips restricted to only an unknown percentage of BBL ATM's.

I will try to find out what percentage of our ATMs are Chip compatible and if there is some way for you to lookup which ones these are online. We have them all on Maps now, I am not sure what level of detail we get into in terms of the functionality, but that is a good idea (to have separate icons for Chip and non-Chip ATMs).

I'll look into this and will get back to you. But I will be travelling again internationally this week, so it may be a few days. Thanks

Thanks to the OP for bringing this up.

I have raised this a few times before and have had various loonies criticising us because we have not managed to get the other Thai banks to adopt this international standard. As I have asked before (with no answer) quite how we are supposed to force our competitors to do something is beyond me (the regulators can do this, yes, but one competitor for another? I don't think so, except by providing a superior product to them, which is what we did)

The time is coming when they will have no choice as EMV will be required by the major CC companies, but for now we wanted to offer our customers a highly secure method for using ATM cards which is accepted in the vast majority of developed countries around the world. In fact the USA is one of the very few major markets where they are holding off on this, feeling that their AI engines they run on the back already provide a high level of protection so that their fraud rates are just a few basis points.

I think all should consider the costs of these kinds of efforts before they criticize. We have 8,000 ATMs and growning. A large percentage take EMV, and as we replace them we are constantly growing that percentage. We also had to upgrade the tens of thousands of merchant terminals (POS, cardswipe, whatever you want to call them) as they also take Debit cards which are now the same as ATM cards.

I won't answer all the other posts. Bottom line is there is currently no proven way to clone a Chip card (the chip is set in resin to make it tamper resistant). Cloning a magstripe can be done with any $10 card reader, including SQUARE. If you want to protect yourself from skimming, use one of our Chip cards.

Finally, if your ATM is "always" out of money, please just send me an IM and I will get somebody to look into that. Thanks

Hope the Mods don't mind me posting this. I know it will come up as a question so here we go.

The fees have dropped for inter region transfers performed on Mobile or iBanking. Please see the following URL for the details.

Mods, please IM me if this is not appropriate. I was not clear if this would be an issue. I am not advertising, just providing information on a subject which often generates questions.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/OnlineBanking/PersonalBanking/iBanking/BualuangiBanking/Services/Pages/FreeLowRate.aspx

<SNIP>

You don't know who charged you the 910Baht but you are accusing Bangkok Bank of doing it because they are the bank you transferred the money to. While you may not understand the way the banking system works, you should get your facts straight before you accuse any party.

So now you have asked the Bank to explain your own transfer, but we can only go back to the Bank who sent the funds to us. You will need to check with your own (sending) Bank who initiated the transfer to get an explaination of all the charges.

<SNIP>

Firstly, if you have a complaint about how you were treated you should complain to the Head Office, not the Branch Manager.

Secondly, the branch has nothing to do with the FX rate on an incoming transfer. That is done centrally, either automatically if it is below a threshold or by a trader if above a certain amount. Anybody sending large amounts in should always negotiate a bettter rate, wholesale rather than retail as it were.

Your story has holes all over it. The Swiss Cheese of posts.

Also, you are encouraging people to use (and giving your custom to) illegal services who don't care where the money comes from. Drugs. People smuggling, Terrorism. You seem to feel that is ok, as long as you feel you save a few Baht. Strange values to me. Now that is UNETHICAL.

Finally, you say you get a rate that is 7%-10% better than the Bank rate. But our spread is not even that amount on major currencies. So how exactly do you get a better rate than market?

Sounds like a bunch of fantasy posting from somebody sitting in a flat in Scunthorpe to me.