Which is your favorite Thai Bank?

[dirtycash]

Kasikorn

[NoshowJones]

I have two Thai banks plus another one I chucked.

They all have more negatives than positives, and I would not trust any of them.

They are like Immigration Offices, they all make up their own rules to suit themselves.

[NoshowJones]

A safe bank in LOS??? I have all my money under my mattress.....get the same return rate as most bank in and around the area...?

I just hope your house does not go on fire while you are out. Dodgy electrics that you don't know about etc.

Or you get burgled, under the mattress is one of the first places a thief will look.

[slipperylobster]

Smiles are cheap....I want my money.

Any bank is good as long as I get my fkn money.

[mercman24]

just got back from Bangkok Bank, go to send some money (also to a B. 30 baht please, not in our region <deleted>. you are the same dam bank are'nt you.i got a lot of money in your bank "solly still 30 baht" .same when i go to Pattaya, get done when i use the ATM,

[Pib]

I have so many favorite banks! How can I choose just 1?

I've had an account with Bangkok Bank for about 15 years. Never had a problem and I like being able to transfer money in the US to their New York branch, but I'm not sure I'd use the word "favorite." Convenient for me and trouble-free, yes, but it's remained a fairly Platonic relationship rather than one of passion.

Too many fees.

Can you back your "Too many fees" statement up with any facts such as at least three areas where they have fees where other banks do not?

Over the years I've reviewed the fee structures posted by Thai banks on their websites and they all pretty much charge the same fees give or take a few baht when you look at their entire fee structure. Sure you will fine some who may not charge for a certain service where others do, but then you see they charge more in other areas to possibly make up the difference. Not a lot of banking competition in Thailand which means the fee structures among banks are very similar.

Like happens in so many cases a person probably needs to be with several banks to get the best overall deal/support for whatever banking services a person needs...and it varies from person to person. For U.S. folks Bangkok Bank's Automated Clearing House (ACH) receiving capability (the only Thai bank with that capability) makes them a good choice for transferring funds to Thailand since a person don't have to use the pricey SWIFT method...and you can even use the Bangkok Bank ACH capability to have your government/private company pension directed deposited to your Bangkok Bank account via the low cost ACH method.

[Pib]

just got back from Bangkok Bank, go to send some money (also to a B. 30 baht please, not in our region <deleted>. you are the same dam bank are'nt you.i got a lot of money in your bank "solly still 30 baht" .same when i go to Pattaya, get done when i use the ATM,

Typical among Thai banks...inter-province/region transfer fee. Not a lot of competition among them IMO. Instead it comes down to having certain products/services other banks may not have and how customer-friendly they are (and that customer-friendliness can vary from branch to branch).

And I expect a lot of the "perceived unfriendliness" is really a miscommunication between the bank employee who can probably speak/understand little English and the farang customer who can speak/understand little Thai. Oh yea, throw in the farang customer's "expectation" of Thai banking laws/rules/policies being the same as in their home country and your have a recipe for a dissatisfied farang customer.

[abrahamzvi]

The link you provided doesn't tell the complete story, the asset size of the parent bank in many cases is way higher than stated. For example, BAY, Bank of Ayudhya (the yellow bank) is owned by Bank Tokyo Mitsubishi which has assets of over USD 2.5 trillion.

But to take your question on face value, UOB gets my vote every time, one of the top fifteen safest banks in the world.

Bangkok Bank PLC gets my vote!

[chiang mai]

just got back from Bangkok Bank, go to send some money (also to a B. 30 baht please, not in our region <deleted>. you are the same dam bank are'nt you.i got a lot of money in your bank "solly still 30 baht" .same when i go to Pattaya, get done when i use the ATM,

Thailand operates a Provincial banking system, most banks operate the same way here unless they run specials where they eat those charges as a come on.

[fred Kubasa]

Question kinda like " what is your favorite form of torture " ?

[Robert24]

I use UOB, KBANK and BBL. All 3 are good. UOB and BBL I have an ATM card because they use the chip technology, so low risk to get scammed. KBANK I have a passbook and service was always good and I use them for my business as well. But don't use them with an ATM card. I prefer those banks because they are privately owned and provide better services. Just my opinion.

Went to UOB yesterday to open an account.

First I was told that I would need a workpermit to open an account. After a lot of arguing a colleague told her that it wasn't a requirement.

Next she told me that I would need an address in my home country, and at the hand of an electricity bill, proof that I was still living there.

I told her again that she should stop making up rules, and again she was told by the same colleague that she was wrong.

Third made up requirement was that I needed to have a Thai wife.

I then told her that she should stop being racist and left, but not after demanding her name card, with the mention to report her to the head office.

Of course the latter would be a waste of my time.

yes that's shitty customer service and I can understand your reaction. I think it's a result of poor training that results in great variances of service quality at Thai banks. I didn't have a problem and like the fact it's a privately owned bank from Singapore

[Nuddy]

If you live here? On a long term visa like a retirement type situation, or a marriage type extension, it is best to establish a proper banking connection here.

Sure check out the fees and so on. Go use your special cards to get your dosh from another country.

But, if you ever really need help, the users that just use ATMS etc to get their dosh from home Could come unstuck.

Find your favourite Thai bank, buy some insurance and some assurance, and develop a worthwhile banking connection.

Then when you go in the Bank for a favour they will ...at least ..listen to you.

I recommend BBL but many have found other Thai banks to their satisfaction.

When I first came here I met a Banker woman who said get a decent banking connection going and they will respect you.

It worked an I remain happy with my bank. Very little fees only.

Regards

[LALes]

Bangkok Bank. Especially for Americans, since you can have two accounts-one in Dollars and one in Baht.

I do a big wire transfer from the States every year into my dollar account and then transfer the dollars to my

baht account when the exchange rate is good. Easy to do on the internet and no fee for that. They do charge

a maximum of 500 baht to wire money into your dollar account so it behooves you to transfer a large amount.

If you need Dollars here, you can get all you want from your Dollar account with a 1% fee.

[AlfonsV]

Would advise anyone on this planet to stay well away from the HSBC; a <deleted> nightmare to deal with, Stanchart not much better.

I completely agree !!

[AlfonsV]

Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn.

If special and better offers some times Krung Thai or Government Saving Bank ("Omsin", the pink one) as well.

Painfully slow procedures in small branch of Krung Sri Ayutthaya (the yellow one). The advantage of this bank: no fee to get your own money with their debit card if using ATM of any other Thai bank.

Smooth service, competence and friendliness varies from branch to branch and from staff to staff - less at Bangkok bank according to my experience.

Warning: the online banking is not as sure as in certain western countries. I and several of my friends (expats and locals) abstain from using internet banking in Thailand.

However, this is not concerning transfer from abroad to LOS which works very smooth and fast (at least with Bangkok bank and Kasikorn).

Edited December 22, 2015 by AlfonsV

[Keesters]

It's not the bank, it's the branch or rather the staff. I've bee treated bad at some branches and good at other branches of the same bank. Presently I'm with Kasikorn and have been since the Internet invention. So far their online banking and ATM network have been pleasant and always done as asked. I avoid the staff as much as possible but remember a helpful asst. manager on opening the account and a mindless <deleted> when last renewing an ATM card.

Edited December 23, 2015 by Keesters

[Jaggg88]

I get great customer service at TMB (Thai Military Bank). And, like Bangkok Bank, TMB has an international branch -- only instead of New York, it's in the Cayman Islands. Hey, I wonder if that is where all the bonus money went from that Thai aircraft carrier that has no airplanes. Maybe it will receive the retirement bounty from the submarine purchase. Anyway, handy to have that Cayman Islands account for the unusually big money that sometimes comes to those who fight corruption.

I also very much like TMB's "no fee account." I can transfer money anywhere in the country with no fees.

55555555 Cayman Islands! that says it all.

[cnxkoolpunt9]

Siam Commercial Bank, Central Plaza Branch, is my favorite in Chiang Mai. Great service and branch manager there will assist in any banking matters.

[Langsuan Man]

Bangkok Bank for their EFTS via their New York branch

SCB for the sheer number of ATM's available

[JWNZ]

Does Krungsri bank ( Bank of Audhaya ) have an English language internet banking?

Yes they do and it has recently been redesigned and is user friendly.

Take a look via the link below.

https://www.krungsri.com/bank/en/krungsrionline-landing.html

[OJAS]

And for Bangkok Bank they have one capability that other Thai banks do not have and that is U.S. Automated Clearing House (ACH) receiving capability. ACH is the primary funds transfer network in the U.S. The ACH receiving capability allows low cost funds transfers to Thailand via routing through Bangkok Bank's New York branch...and you don't have to have an account with their NY branch as you simply use their ACH/ABA routing number and your local Bangkok Bank account number. The transfer is treated as a U.S. domestic transfer...allows most folks to avoid a pricey SWIFT fee, have monthly pension payments direct deposited to their Bangkok Bank account, etc. The ACH capability is a definite plus for U.S. folks.

Bangkok Bank also offer a similar facility for us Brits via their London Branch, which makes them number 1 in my eyes. Incidentally they are the fourth bank at which I have opened an account since moving here 7 years ago.

My least favourite is a toss-up between any of the previous 3: Krung Thai and Kasikorn for lax security procedures which enabled fraudsters to clone my debit cards and relieve my accounts of significant sums. And Ayudhya/Krungsri on account of their ATM which steadfastly refused to cough up any cash but still charged me for the withdrawal.

Edited December 29, 2015 by OJAS

[Pib]

And for Bangkok Bank they have one capability that other Thai banks do not have and that is U.S. Automated Clearing House (ACH) receiving capability. ACH is the primary funds transfer network in the U.S. The ACH receiving capability allows low cost funds transfers to Thailand via routing through Bangkok Bank's New York branch...and you don't have to have an account with their NY branch as you simply use their ACH/ABA routing number and your local Bangkok Bank account number. The transfer is treated as a U.S. domestic transfer...allows most folks to avoid a pricey SWIFT fee, have monthly pension payments direct deposited to their Bangkok Bank account, etc. The ACH capability is a definite plus for U.S. folks.

Bangkok Bank also offer a similar facility for us Brits via their London Branch, which makes them number 1 in my eyes. Incidentally they are the fourth bank at which I have opened an account since moving here 7 years ago.

My least favourite is a toss-up between any of the previous 3: Krung Thai and Kasikorn for lax security procedures which enabled fraudsters to clone my debit cards and relieve my accounts of significant sums. And Ayudhya/Krungsri on account of their ATM which steadfastly refused to cough up any cash but still charged me for the withdrawal.

Regarding your Krungsri Bank statement, that brings back a nice memory. A new Krungsri branch opened in the mall I visit several times a week...the branch had brand new ATMs, Cash Deposit Machines (CDM), just ever thing brand new. While I have used Bangkok Bank CDMs probably around 50 times I had never tried a Krungsri CDM for my relatively new Krungsri Mee Tai Dai Savings account I opened at another branch. So I decided to give the Krungsri CDM a try with a 1000 baht note test. The CDM took the money fine but when I slide over to the Passbook Update Machine (PUM) right next to the CDM the PUM did not show the deposit I had just successfully made in the CDM. Waited a few minutes...tried again...same result...not showing the deposit.

So I take the receipt I got from the CDM, go into the branch, tell them the problem and the literally fall all over them selves in correcting the error. They got the 1000 baht deposit to show on my passbook through some manual updates they did on their computers. Went home and logged onto my Krungsri ibanking and it showed the correction. Next day the original 1000 baht deposit done in the CDM showed up also. I figured the 1000 baht correction they had did would fall off, but it's been way over a year and its still there. So effectively I got 1000 baht from Krungsri due to a slow update. I've used the same CDM again several times successfully and the PUM will immediately reflect the deposit also. Guess on that day the CDM deposit didn't immediately credit to my account their system was just slow in updating and once it did they didn't want to make a debit to take away the 1000 baht credit they had given me.

[PattayaClub]

And for Bangkok Bank they have one capability that other Thai banks do not have and that is U.S. Automated Clearing House (ACH) receiving capability. ACH is the primary funds transfer network in the U.S. The ACH receiving capability allows low cost funds transfers to Thailand via routing through Bangkok Bank's New York branch...and you don't have to have an account with their NY branch as you simply use their ACH/ABA routing number and your local Bangkok Bank account number. The transfer is treated as a U.S. domestic transfer...allows most folks to avoid a pricey SWIFT fee, have monthly pension payments direct deposited to their Bangkok Bank account, etc. The ACH capability is a definite plus for U.S. folks.

Bangkok Bank also offer a similar facility for us Brits via their London Branch, which makes them number 1 in my eyes. Incidentally they are the fourth bank at which I have opened an account since moving here 7 years ago.

My least favourite is a toss-up between any of the previous 3: Krung Thai and Kasikorn for lax security procedures which enabled fraudsters to clone my debit cards and relieve my accounts of significant sums. And Ayudhya/Krungsri on account of their ATM which steadfastly refused to cough up any cash but still charged me for the withdrawal.

Regarding your Krungsri Bank statement, that brings back a nice memory. A new Krungsri branch opened in the mall I visit several times a week...the branch had brand new ATMs, Cash Deposit Machines (CDM), just ever thing brand new. While I have used Bangkok Bank CDMs probably around 50 times I had never tried a Krungsri CDM for my relatively new Krungsri Mee Tai Dai Savings account I opened at another branch. So I decided to give the Krungsri CDM a try with a 1000 baht note test. The CDM took the money fine but when I slide over to the Passbook Update Machine (PUM) right next to the CDM the PUM did not show the deposit I had just successfully made in the CDM. Waited a few minutes...tried again...same result...not showing the deposit.

So I take the receipt I got from the CDM, go into the branch, tell them the problem and the literally fall all over them selves in correcting the error. They got the 1000 baht deposit to show on my passbook through some manual updates they did on their computers. Went home and logged onto my Krungsri ibanking and it showed the correction. Next day the original 1000 baht deposit done in the CDM showed up also. I figured the 1000 baht correction they had did would fall off, but it's been way over a year and its still there. So effectively I got 1000 baht from Krungsri due to a slow update. I've used the same CDM again several times successfully and the PUM will immediately reflect the deposit also. Guess on that day the CDM deposit didn't immediately credit to my account their system was just slow in updating and once it did they didn't want to make a debit to take away the 1000 baht credit they had given me.

Before some TV apologist accuses you of dishonesty for not immediately returning the 1,000 baht, let me add that this is very reasonable compensation to you for the trouble you went through due to their faulty system.

If I were dishonest, on the other hand, I might suggest that you try to replicate the experience with 100,000 baht . . .

[Time Traveller]

The link you provided doesn't tell the complete story, the asset size of the parent bank in many cases is way higher than stated. For example, BAY, Bank of Ayudhya (the yellow bank) is owned by Bank Tokyo Mitsubishi which has assets of over USD 2.5 trillion.

But to take your question on face value, UOB gets my vote every time, one of the top fifteen safest banks in the world.

A parent bank's assets are not really relevent to the safety of a (thai) bank as they would not likely use such assets to bail out a subsidary. That's the reason companies were invented - to limit the liability of the owners.

My favourite used to be Kiatnakin Bank, simply because whenever I went into the bank - about twice a year - everyone knew my name, smiled and said hello!

I guess I was the only non thai customer. But the really didn't have the facilities that Bangkok Bank had.

Edited December 31, 2015 by Time Traveller

[chiang mai]

The link you provided doesn't tell the complete story, the asset size of the parent bank in many cases is way higher than stated. For example, BAY, Bank of Ayudhya (the yellow bank) is owned by Bank Tokyo Mitsubishi which has assets of over USD 2.5 trillion.

But to take your question on face value, UOB gets my vote every time, one of the top fifteen safest banks in the world.

A parent bank's assets are not really relevent to the safety of a (thai) bank as they would not likely use such assets to bail out a subsidary. That's the reason companies were invented - to limit the liability of the owners.

I never said they were relevant, perhaps read again what I wrote!

But having said that and since you raise it: if a bank in Thailand is owned by say a Japanese banking group such as BTM, that's a fair indicator that the Thai bank is reasonably well structured, staffed and has the sort of controls in place designed to minimize loss, over and above a purely Thai bank without such things. I think due diligence and Board guidance aspects are also likely to be more robust as a result of exposure and experience to markets other than just Thailand.

[orientalist]

Yesterday, having come across several reports of KTB not paying interest to foreigners in this forum, I took a look at my own savings account book. To my surprise, I found that I hadn't received a satang of interest in over a decade. The account was one of those deals where my employer changed banks and then went an opened accounts for all employees. All I did was fill out the form they gave me. Because the branch wasn't convenient, I just used ATMs and seemingly never looked at the books.

I checked with my nearest KTB branch and they told me I got no interest because they didn't have my tax ID. I then went to my own branch with tax ID and other documents, only to be told that the reason for no interest was that they had never been given a copy of my work permit! In such cases they told me a foreigner would be given an account with no interest. There was no hope of getting back-dated interest and to get interest in the future I would have to close the old account and apply for a new one under the new, stricter rules, and pay for a new debit card. To cut a long story short, I was in there over an hour and they did eventually accept my one-page tabien baan extract (that was 4 years old), since I don't have a work permit these days. They never asked for my passport or my tax ID. Needless to say, KTB is not my favourite bank, although I think the original fault was probably down to my employer's Human Resources Dept.

Due to bad experiences with Bangkok Bank many years ago, I haven't bothered with them in recent years. I do like K-Bank since they gave me their Premier card with "concierge service", and their Internet banking works well. My favourite is still Thanachart (a small branch), since they really take care of me, their fixed deposit rates were excellent until this year and they used to give me an extra 0.5% on some deals because I had several million baht on deposit, and they seem to have almost as many branches/ATMs upcountry as KTB and K-Bank.

Following the fixed deposit promotions, I recently joined CIMB Thai as a preferred customer, but I haven't been with them long enough to recommend them. Free ATM withdrawals at any bank is good, as is the Speed savings account.

[Naam]

"my favourite Thai bank" does not exist

[orientalist]

On 6/30/2016 at 1:22 PM, orientalist said:

Yesterday, having come across several reports of KTB not paying interest to foreigners in this forum, I took a look at my own savings account book. To my surprise, I found that I hadn't received a satang of interest in over a decade. The account was one of those deals where my employer changed banks and then went an opened accounts for all employees. All I did was fill out the form they gave me. Because the branch wasn't convenient, I just used ATMs and seemingly never looked at the books.

I checked with my nearest KTB branch and they told me I got no interest because they didn't have my tax ID. I then went to my own branch with tax ID and other documents, only to be told that the reason for no interest was that they had never been given a copy of my work permit! In such cases they told me a foreigner would be given an account with no interest. There was no hope of getting back-dated interest and to get interest in the future I would have to close the old account and apply for a new one under the new, stricter rules, and pay for a new debit card. To cut a long story short, I was in there over an hour and they did eventually accept my one-page tabien baan extract (that was 4 years old), since I don't have a work permit these days. They never asked for my passport or my tax ID. Needless to say, KTB is not my favourite bank, although I think the original fault was probably down to my employer's Human Resources Dept.

 

This wasn't the end of this sad story. After being forced to open a new KTB savings account so I could get interest, the branch then promised to re-direct interest from my fixed deposit account (at another branch) to the new account and then close the old account. Of course, they did no such thing. When I asked for help at the branch with my fixed deposit, they told me I now had two savings accounts in the same name, but opened with different documents and not linked in any way. They also told me there was no reason the other branch couldn't have simply switched my old account from "no interest" to "interest." It took them an hour to sort out the mess, combine the two savings accounts into just one, with the new chipped debit card, redirect my fixed deposit interest to the new account and close the old account.

 

The moral of the story is stay away from small branches where they don't speak English and are often incompetent. Larger branches where foreigners live or work are a better bet.