advancebooking Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I write to ask if you have ever opened up a bank acc with a foreign bank in LOS instead of thai bank. I'm looking for a foreign owned bank that offers retail banking in Thailand. I found a list of banks on the following url: http://www.inntron.com/bank_thf.html I believe that only Citibank N.A offers retail banking options but could be wrong on this I concede. I read on wikipedia that Citibank N.A ''With an employee strength of over 2600, Citibank Thailand has grown to serve more than a million customers countrywide. Their Financial Statements show that Citibank is currently the largest foreign bankin Thailand when measured by deposits and assets.[citation needed] Currently, the head office of Citibank Thailand is located on Sukhumvit Road, and it operates under the name of Citibank, N.A. Citibank was bailed out by the u.s govt when the GFC occurred. They have since repaid the debt. Can you offer your opinion on this subject? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fletchsmile Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Depending on how you define "foreign" you could add Stanchart, UOB, CIMB to the list which provide retail services.Also the Japanese bought out BAY/ Krungsri. I have accounts with Stan Chart. Used to have UOB (legacy from being Bank of Asia) but closed them. Bank of Thailand's classifications are here: http://www.bot.or.th/English/FinancialInstitutions/WebsiteFI/Pages/instList.aspx StanChart/UOB/CIMB are listed as Thai commercial banks as they have Thai bank status, and comes back to how you define foreign. Cheers Fletch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 +1 CIMB/UOB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pib Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 All banks operating in Thailand operate under Thai laws and Bank of Thailand regulations. They may have the name of their parent company in country XYZ but they are effectively Thai banks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 All banks operating in Thailand operate under Thai laws and Bank of Thailand regulations. They may have the name of their parent company in country XYZ but they are effectively Thai banks. Except that Singaporean banks for example are likely to be safer by virtue of their asset size and capital adequacy requirements which differ from banks in Thailand, DBS, UOB and OCBC, all Singaporean banks, regularly feature in the top fifteen safest banks worldwide. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeeBee Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Fletchsmile When did the Japanese buy out KrungSri, please? Which institution is the new owner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Bank Tokyo/Mitusbishi bought 72% of BAY, they have assets of over USD 2 trillion., deal done last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 I have accounts with CIMB and Standard Chartered (not to be confused with Stanachart). Both of them seem to put quite a lot of emphasis on their multinational background and integration with other branches in other countries. If the doodah hit the fan I dont know if either would offer better deposit protection than any other bank here, but one can always hope. The main hope being that the doodah will stay where it is and not come in contact with the fan at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 ......Mitusbishi bought 72% of BAY...... Is that one of those Chinese knock-off banks, like the Samsing phones one sees in Tukcom? Sometimes I worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 ......Mitusbishi bought 72% of BAY...... Is that one of those Chinese knock-off banks, like the Samsing phones one sees in Tukcom? Sometimes I worry. Funny. No, but they used to make the Zero fighter plane in Japan during WWII. Mitsubishi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaultdweller0013 Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Depending on how you define "foreign" you could add Stanchart, UOB, CIMB to the list which provide retail services.Also the Japanese bought out BAY/ Krungsri. I have accounts with Stan Chart. Used to have UOB (legacy from being Bank of Asia) but closed them. Bank of Thailand's classifications are here: http://www.bot.or.th/English/FinancialInstitutions/WebsiteFI/Pages/instList.aspx StanChart/UOB/CIMB are listed as Thai commercial banks as they have Thai bank status, and comes back to how you define foreign. Cheers Fletch To go a step further, you can find which banks offer deposits and the rates at: http://www.bot.or.th/english/statistics/financialmarkets/interestrate/_layouts/application/interest_rate/IN_Rate.aspx Thanachart is also 49% foreign owned by the Bank of Nova Scotia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 Depending on how you define "foreign" you could add Stanchart, UOB, CIMB to the list which provide retail services.Also the Japanese bought out BAY/ Krungsri. I have accounts with Stan Chart. Used to have UOB (legacy from being Bank of Asia) but closed them. Bank of Thailand's classifications are here: http://www.bot.or.th/English/FinancialInstitutions/WebsiteFI/Pages/instList.aspx StanChart/UOB/CIMB are listed as Thai commercial banks as they have Thai bank status, and comes back to how you define foreign. Cheers Fletch To go a step further, you can find which banks offer deposits and the rates at: http://www.bot.or.th/english/statistics/financialmarkets/interestrate/_layouts/application/interest_rate/IN_Rate.aspx Thanachart is also 49% foreign owned by the Bank of Nova Scotia. Ah yes, Thanachart, where (in its previous form) the '97 crash started. Whatever was Bank of Nova Scotia thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fletchsmile Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) All banks operating in Thailand operate under Thai laws and Bank of Thailand regulations. They may have the name of their parent company in country XYZ but they are effectively Thai banks. Except that Singaporean banks for example are likely to be safer by virtue of their asset size and capital adequacy requirements which differ from banks in Thailand, DBS, UOB and OCBC, all Singaporean banks, regularly feature in the top fifteen safest banks worldwide. .... yes and in addition for prudential regulations they will usually also be captured by what people refer to as "home-host" arrangements, eg the Singaporean banks will have to help the parent company in their home country comply with MAS regulations so they will often be held to standards that are higher. Where two regulations differ the bank should ensure compliance with the higher one. there is also the question of parental support. Regardless of the legal requirement for a foreign parent to support a Thai subsidiary or not, there is also a moral and reputational aspect to it. eg ABC bank being a big foreign multi national foreign bank has a good chance of bailing out a Thai subsidiary if it got into trouble because it wouldn't want the bad press associated with any of its entities failing no matter how small and no matter whether it actually had to be law or not. You will often see this as part of the credit rating for such banks. They will have a stand alone rating and one that factors in any parental support. I'd also add that the way foreign banks structure and run their operations is more likely to be consistent with global practices - while of course adhering to local regulations and the fact they are staffing their companies with local people, e.g role out of systems, global/regional approach to business and platforms. As a general rule though retail is often more tailored to local market practices than wholesale. Having worked in both foreign and Thai banks I can assure you there are definitely differences on many fronts and behind the scenes as Chiang Mai alludes to. Cheers Fletch Edited February 10, 2014 by fletchsmile 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fletchsmile Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) On Citi, I'd also add that when Citi in the US was failing, Bank of Thailand as regulator here, did a great job of protecting people in Thailand - making sure that Citi Thailand was not allowed to repatriate funds from Thailand to prop up an ailing parent in the US to the detriment of Thais and foreign nationals here. Not suggesting that Citi would necessarily have done so, but I do know BOT took things seriously and made it quite clear... Actually back in 2007/8 I was very happy to have some money in Thai banks, when it looked like it might possibly go really really pear-shaped in the west. In addition to diversifying your money in different countries, I'd say doesn't need to be an either/or choice. I find the links of StanChart/UOB better at some things, eg connection to outside Thailand, whereas local banks can certainly be more convenient in terms of branches, ATMs, accounts you need for official purposes, Fx rates, interest rates etc. Cheers Fletch Edited February 10, 2014 by fletchsmile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KittenKong Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 To go a step further, you can find which banks offer deposits and the rates at: http://www.bot.or.th/english/statistics/financialmarkets/interestrate/_layouts/application/interest_rate/IN_Rate.aspx I find all these "official" interest rate lists to be full of errors and/or omissions. I'm not sure if it is because the lists only show sample rates for specific durations like 3, 6, 12 months whereas the banks may offer better rates for 5, 11, 18 months etc. Also the lists never seem to include special accounts with names, and these often have better rates than regular TDs or saving accounts. Even the banks own websites rarely advertise up to date information about interest rates for named or special accounts, which seems about as counter-productive as it is possible to get. You may be able to find the details on a downloaded pdf all in tiny Thai print, if you are lucky. Even when I recently renewed a TD at CIMB I had to ask what the rate would be, at which point the cashier proudly produced a photocopied list that was hidden behind her counter where only she could possibly see it. At the same time the customer area was festooned with ads for various things that I didnt want, and displays of assortments of free cup-holders and other gifts that could never possibly interest me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Langsuan Man Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 (edited) Depends exactly what you want from opening a Citibank account here in Thailand If you live in Bangkok and can get to their office fine, but if you live anywhere else there is absolutely no advantage to having a Citibank account here in Thailand. It is like having a Thai bank with a lot less access I naively thought that if I had a Citibank account in the US and one in Thailand would be able to transfer from the US Citibank to the Thai Citibank. I was wrong and when I transferred funds into Thailand I had to pay their expensive SWIFT wire double verification system. And if I used my US Citibank ATM card at any Thai Bank I always got a lower exchange rate than I did using any other US bank ATM card Only with a high balance Citibank account will you see any value in a Citibank account here in Thailand Edited February 11, 2014 by Langsuan Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 To go a step further, you can find which banks offer deposits and the rates at: http://www.bot.or.th/english/statistics/financialmarkets/interestrate/_layouts/application/interest_rate/IN_Rate.aspx I find all these "official" interest rate lists to be full of errors and/or omissions. I'm not sure if it is because the lists only show sample rates for specific durations like 3, 6, 12 months whereas the banks may offer better rates for 5, 11, 18 months etc. Also the lists never seem to include special accounts with names, and these often have better rates than regular TDs or saving accounts. Even the banks own websites rarely advertise up to date information about interest rates for named or special accounts, which seems about as counter-productive as it is possible to get. You may be able to find the details on a downloaded pdf all in tiny Thai print, if you are lucky. Even when I recently renewed a TD at CIMB I had to ask what the rate would be, at which point the cashier proudly produced a photocopied list that was hidden behind her counter where only she could possibly see it. At the same time the customer area was festooned with ads for various things that I didnt want, and displays of assortments of free cup-holders and other gifts that could never possibly interest me. The BOT list is not useful any more, it was at one time but now the only way is as you say, a combination of personal visits to branches and a quick check of individual web sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
advancebooking Posted February 11, 2014 Author Share Posted February 11, 2014 All banks operating in Thailand operate under Thai laws and Bank of Thailand regulations. They may have the name of their parent company in country XYZ but they are effectively Thai banks. Except that Singaporean banks for example are likely to be safer by virtue of their asset size and capital adequacy requirements which differ from banks in Thailand, DBS, UOB and OCBC, all Singaporean banks, regularly feature in the top fifteen safest banks worldwide. .... yes and in addition for prudential regulations they will usually also be captured by what people refer to as "home-host" arrangements, eg the Singaporean banks will have to help the parent company in their home country comply with MAS regulations so they will often be held to standards that are higher. Where two regulations differ the bank should ensure compliance with the higher one. there is also the question of parental support. Regardless of the legal requirement for a foreign parent to support a Thai subsidiary or not, there is also a moral and reputational aspect to it. eg ABC bank being a big foreign multi national foreign bank has a good chance of bailing out a Thai subsidiary if it got into trouble because it wouldn't want the bad press associated with any of its entities failing no matter how small and no matter whether it actually had to be law or not. You will often see this as part of the credit rating for such banks. They will have a stand alone rating and one that factors in any parental support. I'd also add that the way foreign banks structure and run their operations is more likely to be consistent with global practices - while of course adhering to local regulations and the fact they are staffing their companies with local people, e.g role out of systems, global/regional approach to business and platforms. As a general rule though retail is often more tailored to local market practices than wholesale. Having worked in both foreign and Thai banks I can assure you there are definitely differences on many fronts and behind the scenes as Chiang Mai alludes to. Cheers Fletch I tend to agree with the point made by fletch where a parent company would support a subsidiary. If citibank NA in thailand was going down, the US parent would step in. The reputation of the group as a whole would be taken into account. Thus, regarding the OP question above, citigroup might be a safe bet as its ranked quiet high according to market capitalisation for banks around the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_banks I was interested to read about UOB but they did not rank in any of the top banks in the world etc when I googled it. One cannot believe everything you read on a website written by a journo but the following url suggests UOB is the 3rd safest bank in Asia: http://sbr.com.sg/financial-services/news/dbs-beats-ocbc-uob-worlds-safest-banks-in-asia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiang mai Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 You could try this one: http://www.gfmag.com/tools/best-banks/12326-worlds-50-safest-banks-april-2013.html#axzz2QLpVxFDE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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