Bank Thai

[basjke]

I just had some time deposits finished so I went looking around to what the banks have to offer these days.So I found out that Bank Thai offers 3.85% for 3 months, 4% for 5 months and 4.20% for 8 months deposits and they pay the interest in advance.Very good deal since the other banks offer 1 to 1.5% less for the same periods.

Do you think there is a risk with depositing money with Bank Thai hence these interest rates?

[basjke]

Does nobody have any info if Bank Thai is in trouble or not and if that is the reason for their high interest rates?I fancy the extra interest but would not like to lose my deposits.

I think I read something about a government guarantee on bank deposits but does this also apply when a bank goes broke?

[monty]

I'm of the impression that the central Thai bank is in pretty good shape, and that they in no way would let a Thai bank go bust taking down the deposits from it customer with it. One such occurrence would drag the Baht down in a never ending spiral as suddenly any and all Thai would go out and withdraw all their savings, putting an incredible strain on all Thai banks.

Thai bank is also not very big, so I guess easily covered or bailed out.

The high interest rates do on the other hand indicate that the bank is in dire needs of cash, then again relative short term deposits create expenses which are very well managed.

Didn't you pull out some funds there quite recently?

[basjke]

Didn't you pull out some funds there quite recently?

Yes I did take out my previous deposits with Bank Thai in the beginning of this year when some finance minister announced that there were,if I recall correctly,3 Banks on the verge of collapse.There were then rumors that the mentioned banks were Scb,Bank Thai and another which I don't remember.Later on this announcement was recalled by the government as not true.

Bank Thai also says that some Malaysian bank will buy a significant stake in the bank effective end of this year.However you never know in thailand what's true or not but the interest rates are really attractive.

On the longer term,2 year deposits,they even pay 4.5%.

Edit:additional info added and spelling

Edited October 28, 2008 by basjke

[AlKing]

The law covers all your deposit for the next few years. However BankThai is very small, might not provide full service. If you don't mind small bank with limited branches, I would go for Standard Chartered.