Banking Question?

[glassdude007]

<huh

hi all i just got a position working out of singapore. getting paid in us dollars

the bank i have here in usa sucks.

what bank should i set up for easy access while working in asia???

ive used bangkok bank in the past but i wont be just in thailand ill be all over asia..

what bank do you expats out there reccomend for me too try???

thanks in advance for your advise..... <grin

[dr_Pat_Pong]

<huh

hi all i just got a position working out of singapore. getting paid in us dollars

the bank i have here in usa sucks.

what bank should i set up for easy access while working in asia???

ive used bangkok bank in the past but i wont be just in thailand ill be all over asia..

what bank do you expats out there reccomend for me too try???

thanks in advance for your advise..... <grin

HSBC ( branches all over the world )

[ralfbkk]

HSBC ( branches all over the world )

YES, and to my surprise only 1 single branch with 3 ATM's in Thailand (Bangkok).Reminds me a bit when they came to L.A. and I had to go up to Beverly Hills Bedford Drive to do some banking. Wish they would come up with more branches here in the Thailand, as they are the oldest foreign bank operating in the Kingdom (120 years)

[glassdude007]

thanks for your replies...

ive set up an internet account with hsbc that includes a debit/atm card.....

with direct deposit i should have no worries getting cash in singapore but not good news about 1 branch in bangkok??

i wonder if they have branch in pattaya???

im sure the debit/atm card will work just about anywhere....

[jfchandler]

I opened HSBC accounts in the U.S. before I relocated to Thailand, for exactly the same reason as mentioned above, hoping to use them as my local bank in Thailand and yet provide easy movement of my money between Asia and the U.S.

For a variety of BAD reasons, doing that proved virtually impossible and ill-advised. So while I've kept my U.S. accounts, basically empty, I've done nothing with them here, after having a great deal of discussion about that.

Those bad reasons include:

--they charge a 3% foreign currency transaction fee on all ATM withdrawals outside the U.S. even from their own ATMs, unless you are a Premiere account holder with more than about $100,000 on deposit with them.

--they have pretty onerous requirements in the way of fees and documents for their local accounts here in Thailand. Pretty much a fee for everything, and high minimums on their account balances.

--And, as best as I recall, I would even have had to have two different ATM cards with their regular accounts, one for the U.S. and the other for the Thai-based accounts. And, there were other negatives as well.

For all those and other reasons, after spending a lot of time and effort looking at them and talking with one of their officers at the BKK Branch, it all came to nothing.

Even after I pointed out that their requirements and documentation were far beyond what local banks such as BKK Bank and Siam Commercial required, they simply replied, their rules are their rules.

As to why only the one branch in BKK, I have understood from HSBC and others that the reason is that non-Thai banks are limited under Thai law to having only one branch location in the kingdom. So for the time being, the prospects of them expanding to any other or more locations seem nil.

I don't work/travel much elsewhere in Asia, so going with local Thai banks instead was a good option for me, and certainly has saved me a ton of money vs. HSBC as the alternative.

One approach that can be easily used is to basically keep your money in U.S. accounts, and make sure the bank(s) you're using have no fee-no surcharge ATM access in foreign countries. Then, open local accounts in the countries where you are working. Then, simply use your U.S. ATM card to withdraw money in the local currency, and deposit it as needed into your local account in that country.

[naka]

Any of the big Singapore banks would be ok. Forget Thai banks

unless you really must have a Thai account.

Naka.