HELP needed----

I am, at present, not in the Kingdom and read, with no little concern, that SCIB has been bought up, lock, stock, etc.., by Thanachart Bank--ok, so far, yawn, yawn,--but, I was possibly foolish to leave a sum invested in a High Interest Fixed Term account with SCIB, prior to my departure from Thailand--the fixed term has now finished and the lump sum will, theoretically, have been moved bank into my long standing current/savings account with SCIB--OK, so far so good, but now, with the recent purchase by another Thai bank--what should be the outcome?? Will I return in January 2012, just in time to renew my Retirement visa and find that I am the proud owner of a brand new account with Thanachart bank, and God willing, find all the funds happily sitting in my newly created account--or should I panic and catch an early flight and go chase up my money??

Any sensible or pertinent answers out there???

Having been an employee through 4 mergers (takeovers) albeit not in this country, it generally takes one to two years for the banks to get their systems talking to each and uniformity in the products being offerred. It is a huge task to migrate the customer base from one bank onto the platform of another. The banking regulators, in this case Bank of Thailand keep a close watch on the issues. You should encounter no problems when you return. Just keep all your paperwork

About the only real change so far is that you can now pay your SCIB credit card bills at Thanachart, and Thanachart logos are starting to filter there way in to SCIB branches. I don't see any major changes coming in the next few months. Your existing passbook should still work just fine, and the branch where you opened your account will likely still be called SCIB in January. It takes a long time for rebranding.

No need to panic. This has been a very slow process so far, and it looks like it will continue in that manner. There has been no indication the customers will receive new accounts. I would expect that at some point when your existing passbook is full and you want a new one, the cover will have simply changed from saying SCIB to Thanachart.

Many thanks to both of the folks who have replied--the main reason that my suspicions/worries were raised was that I occasionally make online payments, from my existing Siam Commercial Bank SCB Easy account to another party in Thailand who, as I do, happens to use an account with Siam City Bank--their account details have vanished from my list of payees on SCB Easy--weird, or what?? This made me start my enquiries and the rest is history....

Thanks again, guys/gals.

Many thanks to both of the folks who have replied--the main reason that my suspicions/worries were raised was that I occasionally make online payments, from my existing Siam Commercial Bank SCB Easy account to another party in Thailand who, as I do, happens to use an account with Siam City Bank--their account details have vanished from my list of payees on SCB Easy--weird, or what?? This made me start my enquiries and the rest is history....

Thanks again, guys/gals.

The online funds transfer system from banks to SCIB has been discontinued since 1 Oct - transfers to those accounts previously recorded as being SCIB have been stopped, and apparently its not just a matter of changing the bank name and it will go through, as there has been some degree of account re-numbering or re-formatting as the accounts have gone into Tbank. However, strangely, the SMART system is still processing such transfers. Anyway, a decent bank would make all this seamless to its customers......

We have our mortgage through SCIB and so far no problems with the switch over.. they advised that we can keep the same ATM card, but did issue my wife a new account book. Will see what happens at the end of the month when they pull out the house payment, but don't anticipate any problems.

No mention of calling your Siam City Bank branch and talking to the staff there about how the changeover will affect the particulars and timing of your account, or, failing that, getting a Thai speaker to assist you with the same???

No mention of calling your Siam City Bank branch and talking to the staff there about how the changeover will affect the particulars and timing of your account, or, failing that, getting a Thai speaker to assist you with the same???

Yes, under normal circumstances this would be a very sensible suggestion--however, I am, at present, in U.K. and calls to Thai Banks are fraught with problems when calling from inside Thailand--but, thanks for the input.

Many thanks to both of the folks who have replied--the main reason that my suspicions/worries were raised was that I occasionally make online payments, from my existing Siam Commercial Bank SCB Easy account to another party in Thailand who, as I do, happens to use an account with Siam City Bank--their account details have vanished from my list of payees on SCB Easy--weird, or what?? This made me start my enquiries and the rest is history....

Thanks again, guys/gals.

The online funds transfer system from banks to SCIB has been discontinued since 1 Oct - transfers to those accounts previously recorded as being SCIB have been stopped, and apparently its not just a matter of changing the bank name and it will go through, as there has been some degree of account re-numbering or re-formatting as the accounts have gone into Tbank. However, strangely, the SMART system is still processing such transfers. Anyway, a decent bank would make all this seamless to its customers......

Thanks very much indeed for this insight--exactly what I wished to know. A minor headache for myself--but a slightly bigger problem for the third party to whom I made payments--hopefully, all will be sorted on my return to LOS.