Thai Banks Slow To Put Overseas Remittances Into Local Accounts?

[wontok]

My wife sent Australian dollars, using internet banking, to her sister in Thailand reently. We always send dollars to take advantage of the better exchange rate in Thailand than in Australia. We have done this many times to the Siam Commercial Bank with no hassle at all and the funds are usually in the Thai baht account the day after we make the transfer. This time it was to the the Krung Thai Bank and the funds did not appear. The sister went to her branch to be told it would take at least a month to clear the funds! My wife was having none of that and phone KT bank HQ and was told that there is a policy to ask the account holder if they want to keep the funds in dollars or change them to baht - this, even though the account number to which the funds are sent is a baht account! The problem here is that the bank makes no effort to ask the customer this question and holds on to the funds, (maybe for a month!), and coincidentally making some interest along the way. To be fair, after my wife's tirade the KT did phone her sister and promise to transfer the funds immediately.....we are still waiting...

Has anyone else come across this problem? How will it affect those of us who transfer funds to our own accounts in Thailand while we are overseas?

Should we change banks or are they all doing this?

Wontok

[Smithson]

Maybe change banks, I've sent cash from Aust a couple of times, both times it appeared the next day, I'm with Bangkok Bank

[CRUNCHER]

My wife sent Australian dollars, using internet banking, to her sister in Thailand reently. We always send dollars to take advantage of the better exchange rate in Thailand than in Australia. We have done this many times to the Siam Commercial Bank with no hassle at all and the funds are usually in the Thai baht account the day after we make the transfer. This time it was to the the Krung Thai Bank and the funds did not appear. The sister went to her branch to be told it would take at least a month to clear the funds! My wife was having none of that and phone KT bank HQ and was told that there is a policy to ask the account holder if they want to keep the funds in dollars or change them to baht - this, even though the account number to which the funds are sent is a baht account! The problem here is that the bank makes no effort to ask the customer this question and holds on to the funds, (maybe for a month!), and coincidentally making some interest along the way. To be fair, after my wife's tirade the KT did phone her sister and promise to transfer the funds immediately.....we are still waiting...

Has anyone else come across this problem? How will it affect those of us who transfer funds to our own accounts in Thailand while we are overseas?

Should we change banks or are they all doing this?

Wontok

This is one area Bangkok Bank is good. Usually my money arrives (from Hong Kong) the same day; at latest the next day. Don't know how your internet banking works. I include an instruction on my transfer to the bank here in Thailand to exchange funds to Thai Baht.Never had a problem. (Shouldn't speak too soon I suppose.)

[Gary A]

I always wire transfer funds from the US to Siam Commercial bank. If the transfer is done near the middle of the week the funds are always in my Siam account the very next day. (So far).

[Smithson]

I always wire transfer funds from the US to Siam Commercial bank. If the transfer is done near the middle of the week the funds are always in my Siam account the very next day. (So far).

Similar experience with the Bangkok Bank, although I also provide routing numbers.

[womble]

All funds sent to Thailand to any Bank go via Bangkok bank.

[H2oDunc]

Womble, you will find if you send to any bank in currency other than Thai baht then they go through the deutche bank in BKK. They then convert it to baht and then transfer to bank of your choice. We found this out as we have 24,000 Euros stuck in the bank there. My wife also asked our bank here in Chumphon how long it would take to clear a bankers draft. I always thought a bankers draft was as good as cash. The answer was 45 days. Talk about taking the piss.

I also cant work out why I can put my ATM card in a machine here and take out some money. It is Immediateley taken from my account in the UK. Try and transfer money the other way it takes forever WHY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If they can work out to remove money instantly they can certainly transfer it as quick. They just lack the will to do so.

[Naam]

Try and transfer money the other way it takes forever WHY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my transfers never took longer than 24 hours. i don't know what you people are complaining about.

[Naam]

All funds sent to Thailand to any Bank go via Bangkok bank.

that is correct. whenever i make a transfer to my account with Siam Commercial i get a phone call from Bangkok Bank advising me that the money has arrived. but i have no idea why they phone me and have never bothered to ask.

[Maestro]

All funds sent to Thailand to any Bank go via Bangkok bank.

I doubt it. My Swiss bank UBS has confirmed to me that Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) is a correspondent bank of UBS for remittances in Swiss francs (CHF) and US dollars (USD), ie UBS has a CHF account and a USD account with BAY, and that for any CHF remittance I make to an account at BAY, UBS instructs BAY to credit the beneficiary’s account directly, without the involvement of any intermediate bank.

However, if I were to make a remittance in USD to an account at Bangkok Bank (BBL), UBS would instruct BAY to transfer the money from UBS’s account at BAY to the beneficiary’s account at BBL. This is because UBS does not have a USD account with BBL.

This is how the system of correspondent banks works, according to UBS. No money gets actually “sent” anywhere. The sender’s bank tell’s its correspondent bank: “credit the account of X with the amount Y, and debit our account with you accordingly”. If the correspondent bank is not also the beneficiary’s bank, the correspondent bank makes the transfer to the beneficiary’s bank.

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Maestro

[slapout]

The secret to transferring funds or presenting cashiers Checks is using correspondent banks. In the latter case the funds are available immediately. Transfers normally take 2 or 3 working days. Maesto knows the system very well.

[sleepyjohn]

Always seems to happen within a day.

[Naam]

This is how the system of correspondent banks works, according to UBS.

i am banking with UBS too and get my phone calls from Bangkok Bank. the same happened when i was with Credit Suisse.

[Naam]

The secret to transferring funds or presenting cashiers Checks is using correspondent banks. In the latter case the funds are available immediately. Transfers normally take 2 or 3 working days. Maesto knows the system very well.

i don't know about cashier's cheques but there is no secret transferring money worldwide using SWIFT and have the funds available after 24, latest 48 hours (depending on different time zones). no need for any routing, no need to point out a correspondent bank as all relevant information is embedded in the SWIFT code.

edited for addendum: if the transfer takes longer then it's one of the bloody banks on either end sitting on interest free cash and trying to cheat the client. in case of SWIFT also no problem because a complaint will validate the funds retroactively.

Edited August 9, 2007 by Dr. Naam

[Gary A]

A few days ago I wired funds for my 800,000 baht visa requirement. I posted before that the funds were always in my Thai bank account the next day. This time I got a phone call from the Siam Bank the next day asking what the funds were for. I explained that they were for my November visa requirement and I was told that the funds would be placed in my account the following day. I normally don't get phone calls but most likely because the amount was over $20,000 US it must have triggered something. I have not checked what exchange rate I received yet.

[soundman]

SWIFT transfers from Australian banks to Kasikorn - 24 to 48hrs (usually one business working day). Never any dramas or phone calls for that matter.

Soundman.

[bottleymike]

The last time I sent money from the Uk to the Kasikorn bank was about two years ago. I did not arrive back in Thailand for about a month after the transfer, and expected to see it in my Pattaya account.

It was not there, and the Pattaya branch could only tell me to ring the bangkok bank HQ. They gave me the number, but I had to phone them myself.

It turned out that my money transfer was sat in somebodies pending tray in Bangkok, waiting for me to contact them. Meantime they had not changed it from UK pounds to Thai Baht, so I had not only lost interest, but also any negative cahange to the exchange rate between me sending the transfer and finally getting it paid in.

The reason for the non transfer was given that I had transfered it into a 3 month time account, not a savings account.

Although I had done the same transaction to the same time account without problem,

As they say. thats Thailand

[Naam]

I normally don't get phone calls but most likely because the amount was over $20,000 US it must have triggered something.

one gets the phone calls to draw one's attention that a specific purpose has to be mentioned. this inspite of the fact that the SWIFT transfer has already a relevant reference. most big banks are aware that tranfers should be made stating "purpose of transfer". why the additional phone calls? i have no bloody idea but i don't mind.

[highdiver]

use IBAN its faster then SWIFT.

the calls are made as under the anti moneu laundering act the banker remiting the amount of over 10,000usd must request an aproval

from account holder as to the purpose of the money.

[Maestro]

use IBAN its faster then SWIFT.

You are confused. The IBAN code, substituting the account number, is known only in Europe, and the transfer is still via SWIFT, in Europe also known as BIC. Have you ever used an IBAN code for a remittance to an account in Thailand?

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Maestro

[Naam]

use IBAN its faster then SWIFT.

IBAN is NOT yet available worldwide, SWIFT is. Thai banks are NOT yet allocated IBAN numbers (as of 31 dec 2006).

[Maestro]

i am banking with UBS too and get my phone calls from Bangkok Bank. the same happened when i was with Credit Suisse.

My wife never gets a call from any bank for a remittance to her BAY account, not I for a remittance to my SCB account. We feel neglected

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Maestro

[Naam]

the transfer is still via SWIFT

correct. an IBAN number is nothing but the unique identification code for a bank and not a transfer method.

spelling!

Edited August 9, 2007 by Dr. Naam

[Naam]

i am banking with UBS too and get my phone calls from Bangkok Bank. the same happened when i was with Credit Suisse.

My wife never gets a call from any bank for a remittance to her BAY account, not I for a remittance to my SCB account. We feel neglected

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Maestro

if i'd call you or your wife once in a while, pretend i'm a banker and conduct some small talk would you feel less neglected?

[Maestro]

IBAN is NOT yet available worldwide, SWIFT is.

My reading is that IBAN and SWIFT do not serve the same purpose. IBAN and account number have identical purposes, BIC and SWIFT have identical purposes, whereby IBAN and BIC are mostly known only in Europe, particularly in the EU, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

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Maestro

P.S. IBAN is the account number and a bank routing code (not the BIC) combined into one long code, generally 22 alphanumeric digits, for accounts in Switzerland 21 digits.

Cross_border_payments_2560_2001_EN.pdf

[Maestro]

if i'd call you or your wife once in a while, pretend i'm a banker and conduct some small talk would you feel less neglected?

Just reading the above made me feel better already

Perhaps for my next remittance to Thailand, I should leave out the purpose of the payment. That might earn me a call from a bank.

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Maestro