Kbank asking questions about incoming transfers

[PomRakBKK]

Hey,

For years I have weekly transactions coming from overseas on an almost weekly basis to my K-bank account.

Due to some smart investments the amounts have gone up to a bit over 1m baht. Some times more, sometimes less.

Now every week when a transaction comes in someone from their staff calls me to 'verify' me?!

The call is like this..

Kbank: Are you mister xyz

Me: yes

Kbank: We have a transfer from company xyz for x amount for you

Me: yes

Kbank: What you plan to do with the money?

Me: spend it in thailand, thats why i send it here

Kbank: do you live here?

Me: yes

Kbank: Ok thank you

Then it takes another 2-3 hours to get the amount credited to my account. Is that some new procedure or do they don't even want our money anymore?

[Pib]

Probably just doing random sampling in support of anti money laundering laws/regulations. No shortage of bad guys out there trying to move move and hide money which can complicate things for the good guys transferring money for honest reasons. Banks/financials companies have to show they are just not blindly accepting any and all money (no questions asked) without doing due diligence in support of anti money laundering laws/regulations. Plus, when it comes to farangs living in Thailand I expect their transfers are much less frequent like monthly or every few months versus approx weekly like you are doing which may be raising some flags.

[PomRakBKK]

Well I don't work here. I am married so I have to live off my investments and combined they pay weekly or every 2 weeks.

Their verification process is more or less a joke with asking me what I do with MY money?!

/rant over

Guess it's the norm now.

[Pib]

It's not the norm until we see a lot more posts like yours.

[lopburi3]

It's not the norm until we see a lot more posts like yours.

I highly doubt very many private customers have a million baht (more or less) made into there account every week. Can understand the official interest.

[Pib]

It's not the norm until we see a lot more posts like yours.

I highly doubt very many private customers have a million baht (more or less) made into there account every week. Can understand the official interest.

Good point. That's a tad more than needed for weekly living expenses of the average joe.

Edited February 25, 2016 by Pib

[thedemon]

Normally the amount needs to be over USD50K to trigger the requirement for BOT reporting. The bank is required to fill out a BOT declaration and you are supposed to sign it. But that doesn't always happen. I have the feeling that no one takes the reporting very seriously.

The call you are getting is from KBank head office, not your branch. Next time they call, ask them to register your email address in their system and instruct them to credit your Thai Baht account by default - if that is what you want. Then you will receive a SWIFT (MT103 whatever that is) notification immediately whenever a TT is received and a Credit Advice very soon after that. Both are PDF attachments.

You can also leave them standing instructions to call you whenever a SWIFT transfer is received so that they can quote you an exchange rate which you can either accept or decline. There is an amount of time before you are obligated to either exchange to THB or transfer to a foreign currency account but I can't recall how long that is.

Not sure why you are getting a call when the amount received is circa THB1M which is under the amount where BOT reporting is required. Ask them next time they call. The person calling you may not speak English fluently enough to explain clearly but they can easily transfer to you someone that does. It could be that there is a slight error in the instructions received from the remitting bank. I have had that happen.

[thedemon]

I should add, don't take it personally when they ask you a question like "What are the funds to be used for?". They just need to fill in a field on their computer screen and couldn't care less what you answer.

Many years ago, when the reporting amount was much lower, some fascist clerk at Bangkok Bank forced me to come in and sign a document instead of answering verbally on the phone. I thought it would be funny to write that the funds were for "Wine, Women and Song". They didn't bat an eyelid and as far as I know no one even read it.

[TheCruncher]

Due to some smart investments the amounts have gone up to a bit over 1m baht. Some times more, sometimes less.

Can I also have such an investment that pays me 1 million Baht a week for the next 4 years? I don't mind if it is a bit less.

[phka]

i usually have to say in writing what the money is intended for

[JMWPACIFIC]

$28,000 a week---you must be very smart!

[slerickson]

$28,000 a week---you must be very smart!

God like.

[kraxlhuber]

Money transfer from abroad, have requested freuently of moneytransfers from Singapore where I park some of my money and have received all the remittance on time ( not always),

the request from me is always made by written letter with all my particulars, mostly the same text beside the amount and account numbers, K bank in Bankok and the province where I live. my name , DOB, from which account to what bank, my name of the account, PP number, date of birth ,SWIFT name, do asap by TT and the reason of transfer ( family support), school fees ( university of daughter)

Just in January my bank in Singapore had informed me that the remittance was returned to them because of insufficient details in the transaction, whatever they were bitching about, never gave me a reason.

So I had acall by a bank manager in Singapore what do do now and by telephon !!! he said he will send all my money to me in Thailand into another account with K- bank account which I requested to send it.

The money never was credited and dissapeared somewhere.

U know how hard it is to call some bank in Thailand and be connected with an accountant/ person who speaks english, all K- bank has is a call center ? where I do not know that is and they are useless and never call back, saying they will check upon the transaction (money transfer).

[kraxlhuber]

Money transfer from abroad, have requested freuently of moneytransfers from Singapore where I park some of my money and have received all the remittance on time ( not always),

the request from me is always made by written letter with all my particulars, mostly the same text beside the amount and account numbers, K bank in Bankok and the province where I live. my name , DOB, from which account to what bank, my name of the account, PP number, date of birth ,SWIFT name, do asap by TT and the reason of transfer ( family support), school fees ( university of daughter)

Just in January my bank in Singapore had informed me that the remittance was returned to them because of insufficient details in the transaction, whatever they were bitching about, never gave me a reason.

So I had acall by a bank manager in Singapore what do do now and by telephon !!! he said he will send all my money to me in Thailand into another account with K- bank account which I requested to send it.

The money never was credited and dissapeared somewhere.

U know how hard it is to call some bank in Thailand and be connected with an accountant/ person who speaks english, all K- bank has is a call center ? where I do not know that is and they are useless and never call back, saying they will check upon the transaction (money transfer).

All I know is that any amount of oer 10.000.-tenthousend USD received and credited in my account in a Thai bank here, must be reported to the central bank, what he annual limit is i do not know, please comment on my quote.

[Pib]

Thai financial institutions must also comply with the Thailand Anti Money Laundering Office / Act reporting requirements, not just Bank of Thailand reporting requirements. Generally the AMLO trigger level is Bt2M but financial institutions must also report any transactions (any amount) which the bank thinks is suspicious because it would be way to easy to bypass money laundering laws/regulations on by merely keeping individual transactions below Bt2M. I can easily understand how approx Bt1M arriving weekly(Bt52M per year) could be considered suspicious (not to imply any money laundering is going on) and the financial institution wanting to get additional info from the customer for possible reporting purposes or just to document they are accomplishing due diligence in reviewing large/frequent money transfers.

http://www.tilleke.com/resources/anti-money-laundering-regulations-thailand-2013-%E2%80%93-thomson-reuters-complinet

http://www.amlo.go.th/amlofarm/farm/en/index.php?lang=en

A key provision of the Act is the requirement that financial institutions and other businesses that tend to be used as vehicles for money laundering report all cash transactions of THB 2 million or more. Property transactions in excess of THB 5 million must also be reported. Also required for reporting are all suspicious transactions that may be related to one of the enumerated criminal offenses, are more complex than normal, lack economic plausibility, or appear to have been undertaken to avoid compliance with the anti-money laundering law. For such transactions, the financial institutions must require their customers to provide a detailed record of the transactions. The latter requirement is generally left to the practical discretion of the financial institution which must then choose between customer confidentiality concerns and compliance with the Act.

[Pib]

One more AMLO reference/reporting trigger levels comes from the Bangkok Bank website but this reporting requirement deals with Walk-in Customers Without Accounts, Customers With Accounts, and Outgoing Transfers. Note the various trigger levels.

Now, these levels do not deal with incoming international transfers like the OP is talking about and I'm sure other Thai banks have the same AMLO reporting requirements as this Bangkok Bank website is just summarizing AMLO reporting requirements....would apply to any bank. These requirements have been in effect since Aug 2011...nothing new.

Now days, there are a "bunch" of reporting requirements and trigger levels required by different govt organizations...it's no longer as simple as just one or two frequently talked about trigger levels.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/WebServices/AMLRegulations/Pages/Default.aspx

Edited February 26, 2016 by Pib

[Baerboxer]

It's not the norm until we see a lot more posts like yours.

I highly doubt very many private customers have a million baht (more or less) made into there account every week. Can understand the official interest.

Amounts like this being transferred weekly must attract attention.

Also, one assumes that would entitle the OP to VIP, privilege status or whatever K-Bank call their top status? In which case, they would know him and not question the transfers.

Strange.

[Baerboxer]

Money transfer from abroad, have requested freuently of moneytransfers from Singapore where I park some of my money and have received all the remittance on time ( not always),

the request from me is always made by written letter with all my particulars, mostly the same text beside the amount and account numbers, K bank in Bankok and the province where I live. my name , DOB, from which account to what bank, my name of the account, PP number, date of birth ,SWIFT name, do asap by TT and the reason of transfer ( family support), school fees ( university of daughter)

Just in January my bank in Singapore had informed me that the remittance was returned to them because of insufficient details in the transaction, whatever they were bitching about, never gave me a reason.

So I had acall by a bank manager in Singapore what do do now and by telephon !!! he said he will send all my money to me in Thailand into another account with K- bank account which I requested to send it.

The money never was credited and dissapeared somewhere.

U know how hard it is to call some bank in Thailand and be connected with an accountant/ person who speaks english, all K- bank has is a call center ? where I do not know that is and they are useless and never call back, saying they will check upon the transaction (money transfer).

All I know is that any amount of oer 10.000.-tenthousend USD received and credited in my account in a Thai bank here, must be reported to the central bank, what he annual limit is i do not know, please comment on my quote.

My bank tells me the transfer limit before reporting and documentation must be submitted to BoT is USD 50k or equivalent. For lesser amounts when you transfer on-line a drop box appears and you select the reason for the transfer. If doing via telephone or at a bank outside Thailand the staff should ask that question. It is made clear transfers that do not have that info can be delayed.

If, for any reason, the details of the transfer were incorrect the money can stick in a suspense account waiting for someone to shout. You need to get all the transfer details from Singapore, and then check with K-Bank. The Singapore bank may transfer through a different Thai bank who would then transfer onto K-Bank,

Good luck, but whatever you do don't give up. Left to their own devices, all Banks everywhere can be slower than sloths.

[Baerboxer]

Money transfer from abroad, have requested freuently of moneytransfers from Singapore where I park some of my money and have received all the remittance on time ( not always),

the request from me is always made by written letter with all my particulars, mostly the same text beside the amount and account numbers, K bank in Bankok and the province where I live. my name , DOB, from which account to what bank, my name of the account, PP number, date of birth ,SWIFT name, do asap by TT and the reason of transfer ( family support), school fees ( university of daughter)

Just in January my bank in Singapore had informed me that the remittance was returned to them because of insufficient details in the transaction, whatever they were bitching about, never gave me a reason.

So I had acall by a bank manager in Singapore what do do now and by telephon !!! he said he will send all my money to me in Thailand into another account with K- bank account which I requested to send it.

The money never was credited and dissapeared somewhere.

U know how hard it is to call some bank in Thailand and be connected with an accountant/ person who speaks english, all K- bank has is a call center ? where I do not know that is and they are useless and never call back, saying they will check upon the transaction (money transfer).

All I know is that any amount of oer 10.000.-tenthousend USD received and credited in my account in a Thai bank here, must be reported to the central bank, what he annual limit is i do not know, please comment on my quote.

My bank tells me the transfer limit before reporting and documentation must be submitted to BoT is USD 50k or equivalent. For lesser amounts when you transfer on-line a drop box appears and you select the reason for the transfer. If doing via telephone or at a bank outside Thailand the staff should ask that question. It is made clear transfers that do not have that info can be delayed.

If, for any reason, the details of the transfer were incorrect the money can stick in a suspense account waiting for someone to shout. You need to get all the transfer details from Singapore, and then check with K-Bank. The Singapore bank may transfer through a different Thai bank who would then transfer onto K-Bank,

Good luck, but whatever you do don't give up. Left to their own devices, all Banks everywhere can be slower than sloths.

[Baerboxer]

$28,000 a week---you must be very smart!

God like.

In the current economic climate, must have one hell of an investment pot!

[Scouse Twoccer]

Hey,

Your investments aren't that "smart" if you're only getting 1m per week, I'm getting 2 million a week sent in, sometimes more, never less, and not a squeak from my bank about it. I'm sure some other posters will be getting more.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Scouse Twoccer

[thedemon]

Money transfer from abroad, have requested freuently of moneytransfers from Singapore where I park some of my money and have received all the remittance on time ( not always),

the request from me is always made by written letter with all my particulars, mostly the same text beside the amount and account numbers, K bank in Bankok and the province where I live. my name , DOB, from which account to what bank, my name of the account, PP number, date of birth ,SWIFT name, do asap by TT and the reason of transfer ( family support), school fees ( university of daughter)

Just in January my bank in Singapore had informed me that the remittance was returned to them because of insufficient details in the transaction, whatever they were bitching about, never gave me a reason.

So I had acall by a bank manager in Singapore what do do now and by telephon !!! he said he will send all my money to me in Thailand into another account with K- bank account which I requested to send it.

The money never was credited and dissapeared somewhere.

U know how hard it is to call some bank in Thailand and be connected with an accountant/ person who speaks english, all K- bank has is a call center ? where I do not know that is and they are useless and never call back, saying they will check upon the transaction (money transfer).

All I know is that any amount of oer 10.000.-tenthousend USD received and credited in my account in a Thai bank here, must be reported to the central bank, what he annual limit is i do not know, please comment on my quote.

My bank tells me the transfer limit before reporting and documentation must be submitted to BoT is USD 50k or equivalent. For lesser amounts when you transfer on-line a drop box appears and you select the reason for the transfer. If doing via telephone or at a bank outside Thailand the staff should ask that question. It is made clear transfers that do not have that info can be delayed.

If, for any reason, the details of the transfer were incorrect the money can stick in a suspense account waiting for someone to shout. You need to get all the transfer details from Singapore, and then check with K-Bank. The Singapore bank may transfer through a different Thai bank who would then transfer onto K-Bank,

Good luck, but whatever you do don't give up. Left to their own devices, all Banks everywhere can be slower than sloths.

+1 on that

I always enter "Personal Funds" in that field. It doesn't really mean anything but has worked for me hundreds of times.

[Thailand J]

SCB, KBank, Bangkok Bank..never ask me.

NOw I only transfer into Bangkok Bank they don't charge a fee to transfer the fund from the main office to the local branch on top of the 500B foreign fund receiving fee, Kbank does.

[crusader79]

Hey,

Your investments aren't that "smart" if you're only getting 1m per week, I'm getting 2 million a week sent in, sometimes more, never less, and not a squeak from my bank about it. I'm sure some other posters will be getting more.

I'm bringing in 4m per week, wouldn't waste my time on the paperwork for just 2.

[The manic]

I transfer money every month from UK to my bank here. It is part of the SWIFT procedures that, at the request of the Thai Government, I explain purpose of money transfer . My response is ' travel and tourism'in.Thailand. The amount is usually 2k sterling.

[GuestHouse]

OP, as a smart investor you probably do not need to be told this, but just incase.

Why ever would you routinely bring amounts of money that are as much as a Bht1Million or more without obtaining a money transfer certificate, without which you would face extreme difficulty taking the money back out again should you ever need to?

If your "almost weekly" transfers have gone up to around Bht1million then you are either spending a lot, stashing a lot or investing a lot - you definitely should get transfer certificates and absolutely make sure that everything 'adds up'