New 100-baht banknotes on circulation Thursday

[GanDoonToonPet]

"The Bank of Thailand today unveiled the new 100-baht banknotes to commemorate and honour King Taksin the Great."

Being slightly dyslectic you have to read things twice... (no "h" in Taksin")

Thaksin is the former prime minister of Thailand.

Taksin (pronounced more like 'dark sin') is the former king of Thailand.

[siam2007]

I would also like bigger notes. USD 30.00 is not exactly a lot these days and I do prefer to use cash. The US has 100 Dollar notes, UK 50 Quid N. Ireland 100 Pounds) and the largest EUR note is a hefty EUR 500.

good luck trying to use a 500€ bill in any shop/store in Europe.

[Time Traveller]

That would only encourage the use of cash for large transactions. Cash management requires more overhead, invites transaction errors whenever it changes hands or is counted, and is more easily stolen and laundered than electronic transactions. If I owned a business, I'd prefer all transactions over 1000 baht be done with a debit or credit card.

Like no business has ever had electronic fund transaction errors or card fraud or account hacking !

For me, I'll stick to the cash. No need to remember passwords. No need to worry about card skimmers. No need to worry about mistaken transactions by cashiers and their fat fingers

Edited February 24, 2015 by Time Traveller

[attrayant]

Yes those things exist - but it's up to the banks to manage those risks, not you. What do you think the 3-4% overhead pays for? At least with electronic transactions there's a record of where money came form and where it went - and if auditors can't figure it out, it's their fault not yours. If your account gets hacked, your bank owes you an explanation. But if your cash register full of 5000 baht notes get hacked, that's all you. Furthermore, customers should be wanting to use credit cards because of the built-in protections and dispute processes.

And where does card skimming happen? Almost exclusively at ATM machines where people go to ... wait for it ... WITHDRAW CASH.

Now, what happens when you misplace a 5000 baht note, or it gets pilfered by a sticky-fingered employee, or a fast-talking customer tricks your cashier into giving too much change, or your cashier gives too much change without being tricked. Good luck trying to get that money back. Bottom line: human errors are much more frequent and unrecoverable than computerized errors.

[outlaw11wa]

Australia has a $100 note for some years now. Below that is a $50 note. That said the $100 was quite a novelty when it came out and everybody applauded the convenience of it. Employers and payroll firms loved them as it reduced the bulk of notes being handled. I think the release of them was at a similar time to Australia moving to plastic notes if not a little while after. Australia was one of the first countrys to develop the plastic style of note.The joy of having these lovely green things in your wallet was a pseudo status symbol. It did not last. The down side was that on payday armed with these new toys the retail shops got bombarded with big notes for small purchases and the retail trading act actually made a stipulation of what traders rights were to refuse a large note for a minor purchase. If you look around now you still see the $100 notes but ATMs invariably dispense $20s and $50s. About this time many companies started the move to direct deposit payroll for employees. Those companies that still pay in cash each payroll seem to defer to $50s. While I don't disagree there are instances where a larger note would see use, the current situation is probably quite suitable under the current junta. It probably adds a hurdle to money trafficking by keeping the transactions bulky.

[Suradit69]

That would only encourage the use of cash for large transactions. Cash management requires more overhead, invites transaction errors whenever it changes hands or is counted, and is more easily stolen and laundered than electronic transactions. If I owned a business, I'd prefer all transactions over 1000 baht be done with a debit or credit card.

And large notes facilitate money laundering and the drugs trade.

Can you imagine buying a Cole at 7-Eleven and laying a Baht 10,000 note on the counter?

Although they are still technically legal tender in the United States, high-denomination bills were last printed on December 27, 1945, and officially discontinued on July 14, 1969, by the Federal Reserve System.^[9] The $5,000 and $10,000 effectively disappeared well before then.^{[nb 1]}

The Federal Reserve began taking high-denomination bills out of circulation in 1969, after an executive order by President Nixon (rather than actual legislation passed by Congress). As of May 30, 2009, only 336 $10,000 bills were known to exist; 342 remaining $5,000 bills; and 165,372 remaining $1,000 bills.^[10] Due to their rarity, collectors will pay considerably more than the face value of the bills to acquire them. Some are even in other parts of the world in museums.

For the most part, these bills were used by banks and the Federal Government for large financial transactions. This was especially true for gold certificates from 1865 to 1934. However, the introduction of the electronic money system has made large-scale cash transactions obsolete. When combined with concerns about counterfeiting and the use of cash in unlawful activities such as the illegal drug trade and money laundering, it is unlikely that the U.S. government will re-issue large denomination currency in the near future ...

[kalbz]

I'm happy that Thai notes are different colors so as not to confuse the denominations. It helps with my fading eyesight. Some countries have different denomination notes the same color. People quickly notice if you pay them the lower ones by mistake but say nothing if you give a higher one by mistake. But even in Thailand i suspect the dim lighting in some bars is deliberate, when mao is easy to overpay not seeing the notes clearly.

I don't like getting old.

[Beetlejuice]

Great news.

Will I be able to buy more with the new 100 baht than with the old style notes?

[farangmick]

Isn't it past time that a new larger note was issued, B1,000 is only GBP20 or US$30, many other countries feel the need for something bigger.

Try offering even a 1000 baht note in a market for 100 baht of veg and watch them scurry to other stalls to come up with change. In purchasing power 1000 baht far more than £50 note, and nobody used them if they could help it. Better to start a campaign to get rid of the shitty little 25 and 50 satang coins.

[Commerce]

Clearly only a few other posters have ever been involved in the purchase or sale of Thai property, whether it be land or houses or condos, the plastic-bags full of B1,000-notes at our local land-office are hardly convenient or secure, as people scurry into corners to count & recount them !

I recall our paying once, with a bankers-draft for B300k, the elderly lady was most reluctant to believe our paluang (the agent in the deal) & her children that this flimsy piece of paper was indeed money ! Bless her !

??

I put down 500,000 on my mortgage, as we sat in the Ampeur Muang housing office to sign the deeds. They waited until the transfer was done bank to bank via my phone, and when completed the forms were signed. What's with the bags of money or a banker's draft?

[lungmi]

Great. The first Chinese King of Siam on a banknote.

[farangmick]

Taksin was a very interesting king, especially near the end of his reign....

Can't discuss it unfortunately, shame as it's interesting history, look it up if you're interested.

Just did on Wikipedia before I read your post. Sounds a lovely chap. (LM laws you know).

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed as well as the quoted replies.

[IsaanUSA]

Great news.

Will I be able to buy more with the new 100 baht than with the old style notes?

No, it is 100 baht.

[rametindallas]

That would only encourage the use of cash for large transactions. Cash management requires more overhead, invites transaction errors whenever it changes hands or is counted, and is more easily stolen and laundered than electronic transactions. If I owned a business, I'd prefer all transactions over 1000 baht be done with a debit or credit card.

The US used to offer $500 bills and they were still in circulation as late as 1969. $100 in 1929 would be the equivalent of $1,362.86 today. The maximum amount of undeclared cash a US citizen can take out of the country is still $10,000. The controls get tighter and tighter with inflation. Governments like control and don't like private transactions; they want a cut of every transaction.

[HerbalEd]

That would only encourage the use of cash for large transactions. Cash management requires more overhead, invites transaction errors whenever it changes hands or is counted, and is more easily stolen and laundered than electronic transactions. If I owned a business, I'd prefer all transactions over 1000 baht be done with a debit or credit card.

You obviously don't own a business. Cash management in the retail business is routine and why would you prefer to pay the 3-7% credit card charge??

[chooka]

"Will allow ordinary people to identify the notes"

So are these "ORDINARY" folk just the man in the street, the backbone of Thai society, the maids and cleaners who clean up the excrement of the wealthy? Quite a condescending remark towards the majority of people. Never thought that your everyday man in the street had any problem with identifying currency whether it be thai or foreign currency.

[ksamuiguy]

I would be getting rid of my old 100 and 500 notes as soon as possible!

[halloween]

Yes those things exist - but it's up to the banks to manage those risks, not you. What do you think the 3-4% overhead pays for? At least with electronic transactions there's a record of where money came form and where it went - and if auditors can't figure it out, it's their fault not yours. If your account gets hacked, your bank owes you an explanation. But if your cash register full of 5000 baht notes get hacked, that's all you. Furthermore, customers should be wanting to use credit cards because of the built-in protections and dispute processes.

And where does card skimming happen? Almost exclusively at ATM machines where people go to ... wait for it ... WITHDRAW CASH.

Now, what happens when you misplace a 5000 baht note, or it gets pilfered by a sticky-fingered employee, or a fast-talking customer tricks your cashier into giving too much change, or your cashier gives too much change without being tricked. Good luck trying to get that money back. Bottom line: human errors are much more frequent and unrecoverable than computerized errors.

2 references to B5000 notes?

[jacko45k]

Isn't it past time that a new larger note was issued, B1,000 is only GBP20 or US$30, many other countries feel the need for something bigger.

Yes, the old 'you give me 500 sir' scam just isn't worth the bother these days!

[stoli]

Nice, except that Friday is of course the 27th. Important date as I will turn 50. I will gladly accept either new or old 100-Baht notes

Edit: and obviously my eyesight is failing me as it is clearly mentioned that they will come out Thursday. Off to get my seeing-eye dog now.

Don't forget to feed the dog......

[stoli]

I would also like bigger notes. USD 30.00 is not exactly a lot these days and I do prefer to use cash. The US has 100 Dollar notes, UK 50 Quid N. Ireland 100 Pounds) and the largest EUR note is a hefty EUR 500.

And it should be pointed out that in the US, the $100 bill is like carrying a 1,000 baht bill here, in buying power. The US, regardless of drug transactions, needs to bring back the $500 bill. For the last 30 years in the US, I always had to carry at least $500 cash to take care of my clients, golf, restaurants, gifts, cabs, entertainment.

I could see a 5,000 baht bill here, but doubt anyone could cash it. Maybe 2,000 or 3,000 baht?

I prefer using cash also. Visa card takes too much money from the vendors, which we all pay.

[attrayant]

That would only encourage the use of cash for large transactions. Cash management requires more overhead, invites transaction errors whenever it changes hands or is counted, and is more easily stolen and laundered than electronic transactions. If I owned a business, I'd prefer all transactions over 1000 baht be done with a debit or credit card.

You obviously don't own a business. Cash management in the retail business is routine and why would you prefer to pay the 3-7% credit card charge??

Do you have a cite for the 3-7% claim? I owned businesses back in the states, but that was 13 years ago and the interchange rate for cards was 1.1% at the time. Poking around online I find rates mentioned as low as eight-tenths of a percent to 2.3%

As already explained, there is overhead for cash too. It has a habit of disappearing. It's impossible to trace (I guess that's good if you're laundering it, but bad if you're a business owner with lots of minimum-wage employees constantly touching it). If you're a convenience store that's open all night in the middle of nowhere, you're probably going to get robbed at some point.

The cost of lost currency is folded back in to the business and passed on to future customers as higher prices, just as the cost of shoplifting is. If you purchase something for $10, you can be sure that a percentage of that money you've just paid is going towards the cost of the business insurance, the cost of purchasing/maintenance of cash registers and safes, security cameras and recording equipment or remote monitoring, along with an IT staff to support all of that technology. You pay for loss prevention, bill & coin counting machines and all sorts of other cash management overhead. Ask yourself why banks would spend thousands of dollars buying those bill counting machines if their employees can count it "for free"?

If your business deals with lots of small transactions, you'll be making frequent trips to he bank for sacks of coins (which are unbelievably heavy). Enter the 5000 baht note, and now you're going to the bank several times a day for change. You'll be spending lots of time (and making mistakes) counting it. In short, handling cash is a pain in the ass and it's expensive, and there is already a cash overhead "fee" built in to the price of whatever you're buying.

As I said before, there are a whole host of risks and problems that come with handling cash, and those problems go away when you stop handling it. Some of you are acting as if cash payments are absolutely free and that there's no risk or cost involved in handling it.

[attrayant]

Great news.

Will I be able to buy more with the new 100 baht than with the old style notes?

No, it is 100 baht.

And thanks to inflation, you're actually be able to buy less with it.

[jcisco]

I remember a few years ago in Singapore having to walk a few hundred K from one bank to another and when the lady at the counter said do you want it in 10K notes. I said sure OK, not thinking it through as in the past wouldn't take such a high denomination.

Anyways, the bank filled out all the serial numbers of the notes, checked them against the known printed numbers, stolen or reported missing notes. Then when i got to the other bank, same thing in reverse, it took forever!!!! 1K notes and it was a blast done in no time at all.

Larger notes sometimes aren't a convenience as I unfortunately found out, have and will avoid anything so ludicrously large in future.

[attrayant]

That's something I hadn't thought of - counterfeits. It's risky enough with 1000 baht notes. Nobody will want to take a 5K note just on the off chance it might be a fake. But don't worry, there's counterfeit detection technology out there for those businesses that like to handle cash.

[natway09]

There may be a market for 10,000 bht notes but it is not going to happen.

To reduce laundering, & shifting large amounts of illegal monies, some countries that I know have reduced the

max size of notes. NZ, Australia had a $500, Yuan now 100 is the largest (before 100 & 500) Indo 100,000 Rupiah now largest

blah, blah, blah

[Guest]

That would only encourage the use of cash for large transactions. Cash management requires more overhead, invites transaction errors whenever it changes hands or is counted, and is more easily stolen and laundered than electronic transactions. If I owned a business, I'd prefer all transactions over 1000 baht be done with a debit or credit card.

You obviously don't own a business. Cash management in the retail business is routine and why would you prefer to pay the 3-7% credit card charge??

Do you have a cite for the 3-7% claim? I owned businesses back in the states, but that was 13 years ago and the interchange rate for cards was 1.1% at the time. Poking around online I find rates mentioned as low as eight-tenths of a percent to 2.3%

As already explained, there is overhead for cash too. It has a habit of disappearing. It's impossible to trace (I guess that's good if you're laundering it, but bad if you're a business owner with lots of minimum-wage employees constantly touching it). If you're a convenience store that's open all night in the middle of nowhere, you're probably going to get robbed at some point.

The cost of lost currency is folded back in to the business and passed on to future customers as higher prices, just as the cost of shoplifting is. If you purchase something for $10, you can be sure that a percentage of that money you've just paid is going towards the cost of the business insurance, the cost of purchasing/maintenance of cash registers and safes, security cameras and recording equipment or remote monitoring, along with an IT staff to support all of that technology. You pay for loss prevention, bill & coin counting machines and all sorts of other cash management overhead. Ask yourself why banks would spend thousands of dollars buying those bill counting machines if their employees can count it "for free"?

If your business deals with lots of small transactions, you'll be making frequent trips to he bank for sacks of coins (which are unbelievably heavy). Enter the 5000 baht note, and now you're going to the bank several times a day for change. You'll be spending lots of time (and making mistakes) counting it. In short, handling cash is a pain in the ass and it's expensive, and there is already a cash overhead "fee" built in to the price of whatever you're buying.

As I said before, there are a whole host of risks and problems that come with handling cash, and those problems go away when you stop handling it. Some of you are acting as if cash payments are absolutely free and that there's no risk or cost involved in handling it.

You are correct:

"Do you have a cite for the 3-7% claim? I owned businesses back in the states, but that was 13 years ago and the interchange rate for cards was 1.1% at the time. Poking around online I find rates mentioned as low as eight-tenths of a percent to 2.3%"

Bingo .... Good on you.

I spent 4 years in Credit Card Merchant services both as a retail Consultant and Risk Fraud Analyst and although it is possible to get close to 3% if you do all your transactions on Amex or constantly go outside the projected ranges ...

Anything above 3.5% is not true, 7% is simply absurd ... this guy is pulling numbers out of his ... hat.

[h90]

That would only encourage the use of cash for large transactions. Cash management requires more overhead, invites transaction errors whenever it changes hands or is counted, and is more easily stolen and laundered than electronic transactions. If I owned a business, I'd prefer all transactions over 1000 baht be done with a debit or credit card.

But some people don't like if the government and private groups can make a full profile of your personality by just connecting your purchases. What books do you read, where you go, how you travel, what food you eat.....

(Always order the pork on the flights to USA )

[Guest]

Although I do have to agree that yesterday I did go a bit too far and rant a bit ... I think that upon some reflection, my problem is the whining about the need for large note (greater than 1,000 THB) reeks of an elite nose being thumbed at the overwhelming majority of the citizens of Thailand.

Would you gentlemen care to guess what percentage of citizens of the Kingdom would have the need for a 10,000 THB note? (HINT: it is a very , very small number)

Would you gentlemen care to guess what percentage of citizens of the Kingdom could even PURCHASE ONE 10,000 THB note? (HINT: Sadly, a larger number than we would hope for)

My Thai freinds who havce good jobs in offices make between 10,000 and 20,000 THB per month. A few make 30,000.

So, what is the first thing they would need to do with a 10,000 THB note? Exactly, Break it into 1,000 THB notes !!!

I am happy we farang are really wealthy compared to the average Thai.

No need to rub their noses in it. Rather bad taste i would say, since we are, at the end of the day, here by their generosity and good graces.

And PS: A 10,000 THB note would be a counterfeiter's wet dream come true. I personally would be reticent to ever accept one, for fear of the bad news i might receive from my bank upon deposit.