Thai Banks

[Brigante7]

Hi all just a quick question. If I deposit 10million baht in a Thai bank, how safe is it or am I better keeping it outside Thailand and worry about exchange rates everytime I want to transfer momey? Thanks for any advice.

[tingtong]

why would you keep a large sum of money for paltry interest in a thai bank?

but even if you do, it is better mostly to divede between a few accounts and banks imo.

exchange rates can be a worry, yes, but it might be also a headache to send money out of thailand if you situation would change.

[Heng]

Have only lost funds one time as a result of a bank failure and that was in Texas when M Bank went under in the 80's. I was only 9 or so, but it was rather dissappointing as the loss was total for us for our accounts there and a whole lot of other folks. The next time was when Bangkok Metropolitan Bank went under in '97. Didn't lose a satang and we were able to recover well in excess (per account) of what the FDIC would have paid out if this had happened stateside. Even without official deposit insurance, the powers that be (BOT, gov't, etc.) have yet to let a depositor get stung yet... even in the Bangkok Bank of Commerce failure (now the shareholders... that's another story).

That said, today we stick to the big 4 (BBL, K-Bank, SCB, and Krungsri) and keep the bulk of our funds in Singapore banks.

[JonnieB]

heng has good advice...split it up among the major thai banks. but you do have to decide why would you want to bring such an amount of money to thailand if you are a foreigner. however, Bank of Ayudha offers a foreign currency account for most of the hard foreign currencies. you can get savings, current, or cd accounts with this FCA.

[Brigante7]

Thanks for the reply's and info, it will go some way to helping me decide which route to go in regards what to do with my money when I relocate to LOS. Idealy I would like to put it in a high interest fixed rate 12/24 month account but then that means having to worry about the exchange rate everytime I want to bring money in.

[naka]

Thanks for the reply's and info, it will go some way to helping me decide which route to go in regards what to do with my money when I relocate to LOS. Idealy I would like to put it in a high interest fixed rate 12/24 month account but then that means having to worry about the exchange rate everytime I want to bring money in.

You can't do nowt about the exchange rate so forget it. Swings and roundabouts !

Naka.

[Khun Bob]

Send to thailand in foreign currency then conver to baht in thailand.

Once there buy gold in thailand and find a secure place to deposit. This may give you more peace of mind. It won pay any interest, ut then again Thai banks dont pay that much on baht. If you want better intererst on baht you could look at Laos - then again the risk of the banks there may be greater (however there are some of the largest Malaysian banks there...)

If you think Thailand's risky, talk to some savers who deposited funds in the Northern Rock BS in the UK recently... However, if your money dissapears from an account in Thailand what can you do ? Who do you turn to ? If the bank goes under wat will the Thai Gov do ? Do the Thai Gov give any gurantees in deposited uds in Thai banks that may go under ?

[sonicdragon]

The credit rating of the better thai banks is constrained by the rating of the sovereign. This means that there is more chance of the country itself being unable to repay its debts than those banks, according to the likes of S&P, Moodys, Fitch etc. It should be realised that in times when the financial system is in distress credit ratings mean little at all. There is an underlying assumption in these ratings of financial stability in general. That said, I think it is pretty safe, however I would recommend an offshore account where there is a better regulatory supervision and political stability where you can get easy access and just make periodic transfers to your local bank account, such as Hong Kong or Singapore.

[Edonista]

Hi all just a quick question. If I deposit 10million baht in a Thai bank, how safe is it or am I better keeping it outside Thailand and worry about exchange rates everytime I want to transfer momey? Thanks for any advice.

To my opinion the risk of a Thai bank default is zero.

Just avoid TMB if you are super cautious.

The problem is that they pay very low interest.

So it is perhaps better investing in high yeld currencies like turkish lira and brazilian real and hoping the exchange risk does not wipe out the high coupons, or try your luck with Thai stock market (some stocks pay very high dividend, but there's no guarantee for the future).

[Brigante7]

Thanks to all who replied, I think I'll go the offshore route and take my chances with the exchange rate. The much higher interest rate will more than make up for any exchange rate movement.

Thank you all.

[Naam]

Send to thailand in foreign currency then conver to baht in thailand.

Once there buy gold in thailand and find a secure place to deposit.

and please do tell us in what part of your garden (coordinates and depth) we can find the gold.

[talatnat]

Hi all just a quick question. If I deposit 10million baht in a Thai bank, how safe is it or am I better keeping it outside Thailand and worry about exchange rates everytime I want to transfer momey? Thanks for any advice.

To my opinion the risk of a Thai bank default is zero.

Just avoid TMB if you are super cautious.

I started an US account with Netbank, an Internet bank, to pay some bills overseas. They went bust two weeks ago, and the FDIC and ING (the new bank that bought out Ntebank's accounts) all guarantee my savings upto $100,000.

Having being stung, I asked a Thai neighbor, very high in our province's government's "accounting" hierarchy, about Thai banks. She said that there is a new rule -- either already in place or due to come online very soon -- where the maximum guarantee (bank? government?) is one million baht. She had just sold some land for two million baht, and was in the process of splitting it between two accounts.

I pass this on because I don't know what the FDIC-type limits are in Thailand, or whether the lady was just being cautious.

[cclub75]

She said that there is a new rule -- either already in place or due to come online very soon -- where the maximum guarantee (bank? government?) is one million baht. She had just sold some land for two million baht, and was in the process of splitting it between two accounts.

I pass this on because I don't know what the FDIC-type limits are in Thailand, or whether the lady was just being cautious.

True : Commercial Banking Act and Deposit Guarantee Institution Act (read here). However, thoses laws are still in discussion.

There is golden rule regarding banks : too big to fail.

We saw it in the UK with Northern Rock...

In Thailand, it's even better. There a very few banks.

For instance, a failure of Bangkok Bank would be simply impossible. Even TMB (Thai Military Bank), which is a real joke (it's the printing cash machine for the generals), baddly managed, with losses, can't fail.

In 1997 : the government took the burden. All the thai paid and are still paying for the happy few who got burned (on the paper) by the crisis.

That's the beauty of the thai... "democracy".