Alert! Thailand Blocks Payments To Non Thai Banks

[onlycw]

There are wires and an electronic system named ACH. Neither worked for over a week. Turns out, Thailand residents (and citizen) are no longer permitted to wire overseas money anywhere but to banks residing in Thailand.

This has enormous implications.

Anyone else noticing this restriction?

This is huge

[surayu]

There are wires and an electronic system named ACH. Neither worked for over a week. Turns out, Thailand residents (and citizen) are no longer permitted to wire overseas money anywhere but to banks residing in Thailand.

This has enormous implications.

Anyone else noticing this restriction?

This is huge

and your source is?

Edited July 19, 2009 by surayu

[thaihome]

There are wires and an electronic system named ACH. Neither worked for over a week. Turns out, Thailand residents (and citizen) are no longer permitted to wire overseas money anywhere but to banks residing in Thailand.

This has enormous implications.

Anyone else noticing this restriction?

This is huge

As ACH is an electronic network for financial transactions in the United States how would Thai banks be able to participate? Bangkok bank has stated on its web site for some time that though ACH payments originating in the US can be used to make deposits in Thailand (through its NYC branch) you cannot use it make outgoing payments to the US.

TH

[onlycw]

Answers: my own experience. This was quite a shock. Sudeenly, the overseas broker no longer lets me do an ACH to a U.S. bank or wire funds to any bank except one based in "Thailand".

Answer: The ACH in my account is set up between the U.S. bank and the U.S. broker with operations in Australia and Hong Kong besides Chicago. It is a big broker with $ 4 bn market cap.

Q: Anyone knows something what this is all about?

Any other IB customers with Thai addresses being affected as well? www.interactivebrokers.com

[thaihome]

Answers: my own experience. This was quite a shock. Sudeenly, the overseas broker no longer lets me do an ACH to a U.S. bank or wire funds to any bank except one based in "Thailand".

Answer: The ACH in my account is set up between the U.S. bank and the U.S. broker with operations in Australia and Hong Kong besides Chicago. It is a big broker with $ 4 bn market cap.

Q: Anyone knows something what this is all about?

Any other IB customers with Thai addresses being affected as well? www.interactivebrokers.com

I must be very thick, but I still don’t understand your issue.

You say:

“no longer lets me do an ACH to a U.S. bank or wire funds to any bank except one based in "Thailand".”

The sentence appears to make no sense. How can a US bank be based in Thailand? Can you explain exactly what you are trying to do?

TH

[onlycw]

Hi All:

yesterday, IB sent me this e-mail. I also changed my address to circumvent whatever outrageous *order* affect my overseas account being blocked from any overseas wire out transfers, except to banks based in Thailand.

I am an expat, who gave a Thai address to the broker.

The broker has no offices in Thailand (but in HK and Australia and it's headquarters are in Chicago).

An ACH is an established electronic way to make either deposits or wqithdrawals between accounts, in this case my broker account outside Thailand and my account in California, also outside Thailand.

It blew all over, apparently, but might be an indication of things to come.

Here is part of the e-mail IB sent to me:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: [email protected]

Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:09:12 -0400

Subject: Restriction lifted

To: [email protected]

Mr. XXXXXX-

We have received notification of your address change which has been

entered into the system.

The Compliance Department has notified us that the restriction applied

to Thai residents regarding their ability to submit a wire/ACH

withdrawal to banks other than those in Thailand has been removed.

Now imagine the United States would act like this. Then Americans with an account *wherever* would no longer be permitted to say transfer funds from their Thailand based account anywhere but to a bank which is based in the U.S.

Sorry, I have no further information about all this, but the international legality is highly questionable.

Let's just say, it's the thought that counts