Bank transfer to Thailand constantly being rejected

[JImH2O]

A company in the Netherlands is trying to pay me by bank transfer. The problem is that every transfer they try to make gets rejected and by whom in the process is completely unknown.
We've tried kasikorn bank and SCB. Both banks say they've not received or rejected anything. The company in the Netherlands says the payment gets rejected and deposited back in their account after 5 - 6 days, and unfortunately they don't know the reason for rejection as their bank doesn't know either.

 

What i'd like to know is what information is absolutely necessary to make a successful bank transfer to a business account in Thailand?

I've been told by the banks;

- Bank account name (must be exactly the same)

- Account number

- SWIFT

 

But then I read something on the website of Bangkok bank mentioning the following is also required;

- Purpose of transfer (really??)

- Bank branch

 

I have no idea what to do next, I've tried to talk to kasikorn and SCB so many times now but they keep saying they haven't rejected anything.
And basicly, I don't trust Thai banks because of their incompetence. I trust the Dutch company over the Thai banks because they have been trying hard to work with my company.

 

Any ideas guys?

Edited August 4, 2016 by JImH2O

[kkerry]

I transfer money to my SCB account from my overseas account. When making the transfer, my overseas bank requires a reason, either from a drop down list or entered manually. I type FUNDS and it is processed. Without a reason I cannot complete the transfer. Bank branch is required which for me is a combination of the address linked to the SWIFT code (Thailand head office address of the bank) plus my account number. Looking at my last transfer receipt (from my overseas bank) and I can see my Thai address and phone number is also listed on the transfer.

 

Maybe the business  account is the problem e.g. more information required to prevent money laundering. Have you tried having a private individual transfer money to you from the Netherlands before, to indicate it is not a problem at the Thai bank side?

[JImH2O]

I see, both kasikorn and SCB never told me anything about the purpose to be mentioned. That's what i mean by Thai banks being incompetent.
But i guess i have found the problem, the accountname is 45 characters long but the bank in the Netherlands only allows 32 characters in the beneficiary name field to be entered. Can that be the reason for rejection? An incompletely accountname because of character limitation?

No problems with private individual transfers, the private accountname is just 20 characters long.

[Pib]

Name mismatches can indeed cause rejects at Thai banks.   But your home country bank not being able to tell you why and who rejected the payment sounds fishy to me as in they are too lazy to look into the details of the rejection.

[JImH2O]

Indeed, the situation is very exhausting. Nobody at the banks has answers and again i am left to do my own research.

Edited August 4, 2016 by JImH2O

[chiang mai]

Yes, you do need to supply a reason for the transfer, living expenses, condo purchase etc., if not, rejection will follow, BOT rules.

[dave2]

re

 

When making the transfer, my overseas bank requires a reason, either from a drop down list or entered manually. I type FUNDS and it is processed. Without a reason I cannot complete the transfer.

 

hes right ! i didnt put a reason for a transfer about six years ago

and bangkok bank rejected it

 

give them a reason for it and its taken ok

 

dave2

[JImH2O]

Thanks guys, i'll have a talk with the Thai banks again on how to fix the accountname problem, and what needs to be written as reason for payment.
Amazing really, i spent hours talking to the banks who should be able to help me, but in fact it's strangers on the internet who know better.
It's always the same thing when dealing with a Thai business. I've really lost any of the respect that i had for Thai professionals, it's always the same BS. When i Thailand, research and do it myself.

Edited August 4, 2016 by JImH2O

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well, of the two possibilities mentioned by the OP above:

 

1. If the Netherlands comany's bank is killing the transfer because name field length issues, then the bank on that end certainly should know the reason why.

 

or

 

2. If the receiving Thai bank is rejecting the transfer because it's not arriving with a REASON, then the rejecting Thai bank should know that's the reason, and should not be telling the OP that they didn't reject anything.

 

Something's not right on one end or the other.

 

On the Thai end, AFAIK, the big banks like the ones mentioned by the OP have departments in their head offices that specifically handle international transfers. A call to their customer service departments and then request to speak with the folks who handle international transfers might produce better results than those from branch staff.

 

Also, re Bangkok Bank and I think the other Thai banks as well, the particular branch where you account is held/hosted is always identified as a series of numbers that are part of your overall bank account number. So just by entering your full bank account number, the bank itself knows which branch the transfer is destined for.

 

[JImH2O]

Thanks for the feedback.
I've spoken to several people at the international transfer department but none have been able to help out. I get the same answer every time from the Thai banks; there have been no incoming payments or rejections.
Perhaps i should have the banks have a chat with each other so they can sort out the mess themselves.

[kkerry]

One workaround for when the account name is over 32 characters, is to enter the balance of the name in the beneficiary’s address field.

 

Another thing to check is that everything you enter for the SWIFT code uses standard English keys e.g.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9+ ( ) ? ' : - / , .

 

Anything else, different symbols or typed with a non-English keyboard will get rejected so no ä type characters.

 

Both banks should be aware of this anyway.

[JImH2O]

Yes, the bank in the Netherlands explained the workaround to me today by writing the remaining characters in the address field. I'll call kasikorn and SCB tomorrow to see if they will accept it that way.
Have you ever tried it?

[kkerry]

I haven't needed to try it but it's a solution I've seen in a bank website FAQ. There are many little things you can get wrong if you are doing an online transfer yourself using internet banking, however the banking software usually generates an error message and advises what needs fixing, or will notify you your transfer is on hold. Things like typing in XXX at the end of the SWIFT code can mean the transfer gets processed manually i.e. slower but it should still go through. My online SWIFT transfers to Thailand are processed immediately, yet I have some transfers sent   from Europe that take can take a couple of days to appear in my account. 

 

I understand your frustration because surely at least one of the banks should be able to see what is going on. Have you ruled out the possibility of some Dutch specific keyboard character being typed somewhere?

Edited August 4, 2016 by kkerry

[chiang mai]

7 hours ago, JImH2O said:

Thanks guys, i'll have a talk with the Thai banks again on how to fix the accountname problem, and what needs to be written as reason for payment.
Amazing really, i spent hours talking to the banks who should be able to help me, but in fact it's strangers on the internet who know better.
It's always the same thing when dealing with a Thai business. I've really lost any of the respect that i had for Thai professionals, it's always the same BS. When i Thailand, research and do it myself.

 

If no reason is stated for the transfer it's unlikely that the European bank will initiate the transfer, the bank tellers or branch staff may well accept the request to make the transfer, not knowing that a reason is important. It's only when the European banks Treasury folks go to actually make the transfer that the issue will be noticed and the request to transfer rejected. Based on the size of the sending bank, communications issues may well exist. Certainly with HSBC UK this problem has happened before and Treasury never told branch the reason hence this black hole seemed to exist. Don't blame Thai bank staff unnecessarily, they may genuinely not know anything about the why's and wherefores of what happened.

[gandalf12]

10 hours ago, JImH2O said:

Thanks guys, i'll have a talk with the Thai banks again on how to fix the accountname problem, and what needs to be written as reason for payment.
Amazing really, i spent hours talking to the banks who should be able to help me, but in fact it's strangers on the internet who know better.
It's always the same thing when dealing with a Thai business. I've really lost any of the respect that i had for Thai professionals, it's always the same BS. When i Thailand, research and do it myself.

It isn't that people here know more than the people in the banks they don't. It is just that the banks couldn't be bothered doing anything. I find it funny that the banks want to know what you want the money for yet many banks around the world have been complicit in money laundering and now they want to be seen as whiter than white.

[kkerry]

5 hours ago, gandalf12 said:

It isn't that people here know more than the people in the banks they don't. It is just that the banks couldn't be bothered doing anything. I find it funny that the banks want to know what you want the money for yet many banks around the world have been complicit in money laundering and now they want to be seen as whiter than white.

 

Requiring a reason is the bank just following banking regulations. Speaking to staff, it can depend on who you get to speak to. Just yesterday I was at a True office wanting to add the EPL to my Truevisions basic cable package. Counter staff had no idea about the new True offer, but the supervisor knew. 

 

For an individual I doubt it makes much difference the reason you select or type in, just so long as you enter something sensible, otherwise with most banks you can't proceed with the transfer until you do. For a business it may be different. It will be interesting to hear the explanation as to what the problem was.. 

[JImH2O]

Yesterday i had a few business associates wire funds from their private accounts at different banks to our business bank account.

ALL payments have been deposited successfully into kasikorn bank. Several ways have been used to transfer the funds.
With full name also using the address field, name with limited characters and different messages for payment reason.
This is proof that it's a local problem with the Dutch bank, and not with kasikorn, SCB or Thailand in general. I have been a bit harsh on the Thai banks, but for this time it's not their fault.
Like someone said, it's kinda fishy that the company and bank in the Netherlands can't find the reason of rejection.
To be continued.