I would like to make regular payments or money transfers within Thailand to several different people / companies, initiating and managing these payments from abroad. If the country in question were another European country, I would open a bank account in that country, sign up to online banking, and use that to make transfers to other accounts within that country. Does anyone know whether this is possible in Thailand?

I've searched the forum but couldn't find a thread discussing this issue. Most related discussions I found were on how to efficiently transfer money from abroad to one and only one person in Thailand (= bf/gf), in which case you can open a bank account and give the ATM card to that other person. Since I need to pay various people or companies, this solution doesn't work for me. I guess, in other words I'm asking whether Thai banks have efficient online banking systems that can be used to make payments to any other Thai account and are accessible from abroad.

It may depend on the amounts involved but Kasikorn's Cyber Banking works for me.

There, you can set templates to pay beneficiaries - if they are KBank customers it is done effectively as an internal transfer, no cost. Other bank transfers carry a small fee.

Kasikorn use a One Time Password approach and sms a numeric code for you to authorise (a) new payees and ( Payments.

You can do all this from Europe once you have overcome the other hurdle of opening the account in Thailand.

Suggest you have a look at their website.

Transferring money within country has been easier in the past few years. Almost every banks provide internet banking with OTP(SMS). First, you have to apply in person here in Thailand then you can access your account by internet from anywhere. I'm not sure if the automated SMS can be sent to oversea number, otherwise you have to buy a sim card in Thailand and use the number for this purpose. Still in doubt if you use Thai sim card overseas, the SMS will reach you. It would. because you will have to use roaming service from Thai mobile operators.

Edited December 17, 201015 yr by PatBkk

YES, you can receive the Thai SMS so long as you add International roaming to your Thai mobile account ( at least I know this is true for DTAC and SCB banks SMS system) and you don't pay to receive International SMS

I used this facility this summer while in the US to authorize payment to various contractors for a house I am building in Thailand

The only problem I ran into was when I was in a location that did not have adequate coverage for DTAC's US partner ( T-Mobile or AT&T )

And remember your mobile phone must be a Tri band phone to work in the US

cardholderI may be wrong but I thought that K Bank also had an email option to receive the "code" to add new accounts for transfers, in addition to the SMS approach (so long as it was set up while in Thailand)

Thanks everybody for your replies! I'm glad Thailand is up to speed in that regard.

Thanks everybody for your replies! I'm glad Thailand is up to speed in tvhat regard.

Hi. On Kasikorn cyberbank you have a choice between a SMS sent password and a password you choose yourself. I use the latter as I work offshore and not always have mobile coverage. Very convenient.