BKK Citibank or Bangkok Bank

[arunsakda]

For others who may want to deposit 800,000 baht for a retirement extention and have no need to hide income or assets is there any reason other than "choosing not to participate" that you could flesh out ?

Edited March 17, 2016 by arunsakda

[MickeyM]

I picked Citibank when HSBC withdrew from retail banking in Thailand. It was a bad decision.

1. Citibank Thailand offers no fee-free transfers from Citi in the US, although that service is offered in virtually all other countries. (SWIFT transfers are the only option).

2. Virtually all extended investment services are excluded from US citizens.

3. Local transfers to other Thai banks take 3 business days.

I could add more reasons, but it has been a frustrating experience.

Not entirely sure which direction (Thailand to US or US to Thailand) you are referring to in (1). However, you can do "fee free" Citi Global Transfers from the US to Thailand; I am not sure about the other way around. I say "fee free" because you get a lousy exchange rate; currently about 500 Baht difference compared to ACH from CIti to Bangkok Bank's NY branch on a USD 1000 transfer. The upside is that it is fast -- funds are consistently accessible within a couple of hours. So, its a nice feature to have in an emergency, but I wouldn't use as a regular funds transfer.

The only real advantage of Citi Thailand is true fee free ATM access throughout Thailand. Most banks will charge you a fee outside of the province where your bank branch is located. The problem, however, is how to get the funds into the Citi Thai account in the first place.

For the retirement extension, I'm not sure if funds in Citibank would qualify -- Citibank is a foreign bank with a branch in Thailand with additional restrictions over full Thai Commercial Banks. I would be interested to hear if someone has knowledge of whether this is the case or now.

[MickeyM]

I stand corrected - CitiBank just implemented International Citi-Citi transfers within the past two months. Same day transfers and Swift transfers are no longer required.

[MickeyM]

I picked Citibank when HSBC withdrew from retail banking in Thailand. It was a bad decision.

1. Citibank Thailand offers no fee-free transfers from Citi in the US, although that service is offered in virtually all other countries. (SWIFT transfers are the only option).

2. Virtually all extended investment services are excluded from US citizens.

3. Local transfers to other Thai banks take 3 business days.

I could add more reasons, but it has been a frustrating experience.

Not entirely sure which direction (Thailand to US or US to Thailand) you are referring to in (1). However, you can do "fee free" Citi Global Transfers from the US to Thailand; I am not sure about the other way around. I say "fee free" because you get a lousy exchange rate; currently about 500 Baht difference compared to ACH from CIti to Bangkok Bank's NY branch on a USD 1000 transfer. The upside is that it is fast -- funds are consistently accessible within a couple of hours. So, its a nice feature to have in an emergency, but I wouldn't use as a regular funds transfer.

The only real advantage of Citi Thailand is true fee free ATM access throughout Thailand. Most banks will charge you a fee outside of the province where your bank branch is located. The problem, however, is how to get the funds into the Citi Thai account in the first place.

For the retirement extension, I'm not sure if funds in Citibank would qualify -- Citibank is a foreign bank with a branch in Thailand with additional restrictions over full Thai Commercial Banks. I would be interested to hear if someone has knowledge of whether this is the case or now.

[MickeyM]

I use CitiBank Thailand accounts every year for one year extension of Retirement status ($800,000 method). No problem.

[mogandave]

I use CitiBank Thailand accounts every year for one year extension of Retirement status ($800,000 method). No problem.

Do they have no-fees personal accounts in Thailand?

What ATMs can you use free?

[Langsuan Man]

Just my opinion but CitiBank is more like a McDonalds franchise here in Thailand.

Unless you have a Premium account you pay through the nose for every service. And their USD exchange rate is the lowest I have seen in Thailand

Had to raise cash for the deposit on a condo so used CitiBank and E*trade ATM cards and Citi's rate was two or three baht lower than E*trade every day that I pulled my maximum limit

Once during a transit in Frankfurt went to a CitiBank ATM in the lobby of a CitiBank and not only was the exchange rate lower than the kiosks at the airport but they charged me an extra fee for using a CitiBank ATM

Bangkok Bank is the way to go