Hi. With the Brexit vote looming I thought it prudent to transfer some funds in case of a Sterling dive. Pleasantly surprised that HSBC to Kasikorn took all of 2, yes two hours to arrive today. HSBC still charging a miserly £4 transfer fee too.

Ten minutes is my best from HSBC to Bangkok Bank, if you time it right in the day.

I'm jealous. In April it took my 2000 pound transfer 17 days to get from Nationwide Building Society to Kasikorn,

Kasikorn has always been near immediate for me too... other banks, not so much so, possibly depending on the branch

Banks usually perform transfers after normal hours i.e. from 5pm. When I transfer money it is sent after regular business hours and is in the bank the next morning

I don't often transfer here anymore, but I was looking at Int'l transfer speeds between banks for other reasons (in the West).

Much like EMS post here compared to normal post, they appear to have a cut off time for normal transfers, and a different time (usually 1 hour) for Express transfers.

Perhaps if you get the timing just right on a quiet day, you might see some impressive results, whereas at the start of the banking day in the countries of relevance it could take a while.

Still, even that wouldn't explain your experience in full if talking about UK to here if going by office hours, only if all banks align to certain times on Universal Standard Time or something. I may be making this up, and could be false memory syndrome, but I've noticed that the Thai banks take a break sometimes and I always complained that computers don't need a lunch break, but OP question makes me wonder if they have all agreed on a Batch Processing time?

Edited June 15, 201610 yr by Shiver

Since I opened a Citibank account in Australia, I've not paid bank charges for any transfers. I simply withdraw cash from Citi ATM .. no charge at either end ... and deposit some in a GSB bank for easier access. I go to Bangkok at least once a month, often more, so it's no problem at all. The exchange rate is also spot on.

Kasikorn has always been near immediate for me too... other banks, not so much so, possibly depending on the branch

An international transfer would be directed to the head bank office in Bangkok. The Kasikorn branch wouldn't be directly involved. Probably the choice of foreign sending banks is part of the problem for slow transfers.

I am with the HSBC and they are good doing transfers, never really had a bad one. But after I have paid the £4 internet fee I get charged another £16 ish. When I rang them up they said that the money goes via HSBC Thailand (which I found out is only Commercial) as they don't have a direct link to SCB in BKK. So I end up paying because HSBC in the UK has to use an intermediary Bank (even though its the same Banking group), has anyone else found this?

Hey guys,

I transfer using the Post Office International Money Transfer system and it takes 2 to 3 days but is free to do. Is this a good system to use? I don't mind waiting a couple of days if it really is free but I would like to hear if other people use the Post Office for their transfers :-)

Cheers

Transfer wise is a great company with no charges and up to the moment rates far far better than paying bank charges

Transfer wise is a great company with no charges and up to the moment rates far far better than paying bank charges

No charges at all? Well, I must speak to them because I regularly pay for their services.

Transfer wise is a great company with no charges and up to the moment rates far far better than paying bank charges

Re "no charges":

If you transfered GBP 5,000 right now, you´d pay GBP 64,11 in charges. However, with the exchange rate offered at TBH 50,0220 the total funds received would be TBH 246.903,09, which is significantly better than what I´d get using my Halifax account with only a GBP 9,50 charge.

Edited June 15, 201610 yr by DUS

As a former banker (Bank of America) I was involved in the process of international transfers. It CAN be done INSTANTANEOUSLY, and should be done so, in my opinion (and will happen when pigs fly).

However, banks make untold millions from "float," that is, holding large sums of funds (the aggregate of hundreds and thousands of small deposits and transfers-in-process) overnight, investing it for as short as 24 hours, and making huge sums of interest income. This is usually done through international "commercial paper" investments. While you're patiently (or not patiently) waiting for your money, it's flying all around the world, finding the highest short-term interest rates.

The longer they get away with holding your funds, the more money they make. It's a game; and you, the transfer customers, are the victims.

In more developed countries, this transfer time lag is strictly regulated. In developing countries, it is loosely regulated or not at all.

If your bank here takes more than two or three business days to show you the money, vote with your feet and find a more customer-friendly institution.

Remember, the technology and procedures are capable of instantaneous transfers. That includes the transfer as well as currency conversions. They should be happy with just the exorbitant fees they charge you. However, the really big elephant in the room is the float time over which you have no control, and by which they cash-in big time.

Welcome to the not-so-transparent side of banking. Ca-ching!

Edited June 15, 201610 yr by Fookhaht

Interesting, i use a service out of Canada called Visa Direct and the transfer happens immediately. Person on Thai side just needs to have a visa card or a visa debit card with active bank account.

I'm jealous. In April it took my 2000 pound transfer 17 days to get from Nationwide Building Society to Kasikorn,

Nationwide send via HSBC Bkk who recently started throwing in a further 15 quid fee...be aware!!

Since I opened a Citibank account in Australia, I've not paid bank charges for any transfers. I simply withdraw cash from Citi ATM .. no charge at either end ... and deposit some in a GSB bank for easier access. I go to Bangkok at least once a month, often more, so it's no problem at all. The exchange rate is also spot on.

Good that you check the exchange rate on your Citibank withdrawals. Be forewarned that you have to be especially careful with Citibank Thailand on outward remittances. They love to promote their fee free international intra-bank transfers, but what they don't bother to tell you is that they apply highly unfavourable exchange rates on those transfers. These rates are even worse than their over the counter rates for notes, cheques, etc, which is counter to most banking practices. Their FX desk purposely jack up these rates because many people don't bother to check or can't be bothered to send a cheque it seems. When you're short for time and think an institution is honest, who bothers to check?

Edited June 16, 201610 yr by puuchaibaa

 

On 6/16/2016 at 9:55 AM, rct99q said:

Interesting, i use a service out of Canada called Visa Direct and the transfer happens immediately. Person on Thai side just needs to have a visa card or a visa debit card with active bank account.

 

Do you remember which bank was used on the Thai end?

12 hours ago, jvc said:

 

 

Do you remember which bank was used on the Thai end?

 

 

12 hours ago, jvc said:

 

 

Do you remember which bank was used on the Thai end?

Goes to the receivers visa/visa debit card account. My wife uses KTB but heard it works with kasikorn and others.

Edited November 6, 20169 yr by rct99q
Ei

With the visa direct service thete is a fee involved between 8.95 & 12.95 depending on the amount sent. Still like the ease of use though.

Thanks pal. I'll check them out.