Swift Wire Questions (Timing/Holidays/Weekends)

[Jingthing]

I think I already know the answer to this but want confirmation.

Let's say you initiate a SWIFT wire from the US on a Friday US time after Thai bank business hours are closed for that day.

I assume the Thai account wouldn't possibly show the transfer on weekends, correct?

And also bank holidays, correct?

[churchill]

Correct - For Bangkok Bank - So I assume all the rest are the same /

[Mrjlh]

I only know about Bangkok Bank. Bangkok Bank has a big branch in New York. If you use NY 's "routing number" (which they will give you) with your in country Bangkok Bank Account number, you will always see your money on either Saturday or Sunday depending of course on the day previously you made the deposit no matter what the Thai Holiday is. So far, only time it was delayed by one day was due to an US holiday which happens to fall on a Friday. I just can't remember which one it was.

[Jingthing]

Here I am talking about SWIFT transfers, as opposed to ACH transfers or whatever BB uses to move money from NYC to Thailand, which wouldn't be SWIFT, rather some internal thing they do.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Jingthing

[sotsira]

Everytime i've requested a Swift Transfer the bank always states 3-5 working days for clearance.

[Pib]

I've done a few SWIFT transfers to Bangkok Bank, like when buying my home, but I've never had incoming money to post (be available) to my Bangkok Bank account except on Monday thru Friday. Same for the many ACH transfers I've done. Yea, the money may have actually arrived Bangkok Bank on a Saturday or Sunday or maybe a Thai holiday, but it never posted to my account until a Monday through Friday....guess some Bangkok Bank section which only works Monday thru Friday had to do one final check for the money to complete its journey/be posted to my account. And there have been one or two times where Thai holidays, U.S. holidays, and weekends lined up in such a way to make the normal 2 to 3 day ACH transfer time take 4 to 6 days (i.e., from the day I initiated the transfer online until it posted to my account)...a person gets concerned his money has got lost in space.

Seems to me a SWIFT transfer only seems to get out of the starting blocks faster, but can still be slowed down during the race due to obstacles on the track like holidays, receiving bank final funds posting procedures, etc. And I had a credit union once that even when doing a SWIFT transfer, if you initiated the transfer by 10am in the morning it would got out at 2pm that day (Mon-Fri only); but if you initiated after 10am it would not go out until 2pm the next business days. So if you were unlucky and walked in a Friday at 10:15am and initiated the SWIFT transfer it would not go out till 2pm Monday. But they did have a note at the bottom of the form telling you about the 10am and 2pm times. Seems to me they were just using one of the four or so times during a Monday thru Friday when ACH transfers are batch processed/transmitted through the banking system but actually selling the transfer as a SWIFT transfer. Oh yea, the credit union to this day don't sell ACH transfers; they only sell SWIFT transfers....much more profit in SWIFT transfers. I still have an account with this credit union but only do ACH funds "pulls" from them initiated from one of my other banks (could do "pushes" from my other banks also but I'm just slowly drawing down this credit union account balance). Just my experience.

[cardholder]

Everytime i've requested a Swift Transfer the bank always states 3-5 working days for clearance.

Safety margin.

Some arrive same day from UK to Thailand, always by 2nd working day.

I will transfer funds online tomorrow, Sunday, knowing there is a UK Bank Holiday on Monday. Let's see when it gets to Kasikorn Bank.

[longball53098]

I use Chase bank USA to my SCB account. If I initiate the Chase swift late in the day on a Friday local Thai time the money never arrives until Monday morning. Checking with Chase via net banking shows the completed transfer late Friday night in most cases and I'm convinced that because SCB wire department is closed over a weekend that they do not "receive" and "approve' the transfer until they arrive for work on Monday morning.

If I initiate the transfer on a week day same time late afternoon/early evening the cash is usually in my account before noon the next day.

I have been using Chase to SCB swift for 6 years now. The slowest transfers have been those done over a weekend or holiday period (I don't do these anymore) and the quickest was less than an hour literally.