Thai Banks Up To Their Old Tricks

[topfield]

I have pointed out previously that checking market exchange rates for the pound with those offered by the Thai banks clearly show that they revise their rates up to 12 times a day when the baht is strengthening but either fall to alter their rates (ie at weekends/holidays) or puposely delay them when the baht is weakening .

This weekend is a prime example. The pound rose by up to one percent on Friday, especially during later banking hours in Europe ( (N.Y shut for a holiday ) making the current market rate around 70.60 to the pound yet several banks have kept the Friday opening rate or early afternoon rate so as to rake in larger profits.

Today, Sunday, Bangkok Bank is paying just 69.21 for notes at their exchange booths.

Nationwide Cash card at the other extreme is paying 70.43. This of course is an unusual case but nevertheless it is wrong for these banks to take advantage of rate changes as they do as this policy is certainly not approved by nor probably even known by the Bank of Thailand.

[Totster]

Topfield, you really have got a bee in your bonnet about exchange rates.

The differences you point out add up to small amounts when converted to cash, either you draw out obscene amounts of money everyday, or you are slightly obsessive.

totster

[Khun Bob]

I have pointed out previously that checking market exchange rates for the pound with those offered by the Thai banks clearly show that they revise their rates up to 12 times a day when the baht is strengthening but either fall to alter their rates (ie at weekends/holidays) or puposely delay them when the baht is weakening .

This weekend is a prime example. The pound rose by up to one percent on Friday, especially during later banking hours in Europe ( (N.Y shut for a holiday ) making the current market rate around 70.60 to the pound yet several banks have kept the Friday opening rate or early afternoon rate so as to rake in larger profits.

Today, Sunday, Bangkok Bank is paying just 69.21 for notes at their exchange booths.

Nationwide Cash card at the other extreme is paying 70.43. This of course is an unusual case but nevertheless it is wrong for these banks to take advantage of rate changes as they do as this policy is certainly not approved by nor probably even known by the Bank of Thailand.

Well done in your research Topfield - it is only through testing and observation that the system can be understood and with this knowledge used to the best possible ability. You seem to be one of the few who take an interest in this...

[bkkandrew]

TOTSTER, FYI, Topfield could be, as I am, involved in Export from Thailand to UK, which is neither obscene nor obsessive...

Edited November 26, 2006 by bkkandrew

[Totster]

Point taken Bkk andrew, and at least you made your point intelligently and without flaming.

My point is that topfield seems to me to be obsessive about Nationwide, and Thai banks exchange rates.

Now, it also seems that others take an interest in this subject, but maybe choose to express it in a less obssesive like manner.

TOPFIELD - I have removed your flame from this topic, please feel free to continue your discussion, but please also allow others to have their say also. Not everyone will agree with your views, I don't have to be an expert to think you go on about this too much... but I take a point from bkkandrews post.

totster

[samran]

Point taken Bkk andrew, and at least you made your point intelligently and without flaming.

My point is that topfield seems to me to be obsessive about Nationwide, and Thai banks exchange rates.

Now, it also seems that others take an interest in this subject, but maybe choose to express it in a less obssesive like manner.

TOPFIELD - I have removed your flame from this topic, please feel free to continue your discussion, but please also allow others to have their say also. Not everyone will agree with your views, I don't have to be an expert to think you go on about this too much... but I take a point from bkkandrews post.

totster

On top of that, it is simply frustrating to see a lack of understanding about how banks work, that cash transactions usually incur a higher spread than electronic ATM rates given the fact that:

1) human interaction is needed - and has associated costs

2) that physically holding on to the cash is risky in itself for the bank, lest currency movements adversely affect their position; and

3) that simply put, Thai tourist exchange rates are amongst the best in the world, if not the best. Try changing GBP to baht at Heathrow. You'll get a lousy exchange rate AND a 3 squid minimum service charge on top of it. None of that here in Thailand.

Banging on about this on a regular basis for me shows ignorance for the basic fundamentals of so many things FOREX and non-FOREX related, you kind get a bit sick about seeing the SAME emails repeated everytime Toppy gets back to town and feels that he has been 'ripped off' 20 pence on a 50 quid transaction.

[bendix]

Agree with samran. This is at least the third or fourth thread he's started on the same tedious subject which, as samran points out, is initiated by a complete lack of understanding of how banks work.

[bmanly]

Topfield, you could just leave all your GBP in UK and just use you Nationwide card in Thailand. Then you get that high rate all the time. Or perhaps once the fees and conversion charges come out you will be back to the cash rate again. The spread in Thailand between the cash rate and the TT rate is minor when dealing with the GBP. You have to pay a bit somewhere along the way.

[topfield]

Topfield, you could just leave all your GBP in UK and just use you Nationwide card in Thailand. Then you get that high rate all the time. Or perhaps once the fees and conversion charges come out you will be back to the cash rate again. The spread in Thailand between the cash rate and the TT rate is minor when dealing with the GBP. You have to pay a bit somewhere along the way.

The aim of the posting was just to provide factual information.

It's up to each individual on how they wish to exchange their money.

For some people convenience is all that counts and they will exchange irrespective of the rate. Others strive to get the best rate possible , not for getting the extra few quid, but for knowing they have beaten the system/not got ripped off.

Those who criticise show they just narrow minded, by rejecting all information.

Acceptable criticism will from those who show that any information provided is either incorrct or misleading. Such criticism will be welcomed as everone ocassionally makes mistakes .

[Briggsy]

The answer is obvious. Change the other way i.e. baht to pounds and screw the banks!

[topfield]

The answer is obvious. Change the other way i.e. baht to pounds and screw the banks!

You can't always do that.

A few years ago I was in a tourist area of Jakarta and the market rate was around 13,000 rupiah to the dollar.

The change offices had a posted rate at 10,000 buy dollars and 11000 sell. I brought in a load of rupiah as a test and said I wanted to buy dollars. They were flabbergasted as tourists almost always buy rupiah. Sorry ...we do not have any dollars they said (untruthfully). It became clear that the reason for the phoney rate was to 'reassure' toursts that the 10000 they were getting was a fair rate.

In fact it was a con to get dollars cheaply.

As for Thailand it is not so simple to buy foreign currency. The bank exchange bureaux only buy currency and will not sell it . The bank head offices will sell but you have to give a good reason for wanting pounds with permission required by the Bank of Thailand if the amount required exceeds a certain amount.

(yes, I am aware that at the airport its easier but I am sure that they would balk at selling a really large amount)

[samran]

As for Thailand it is not so simple to buy foreign currency.

Um...yes it is. I can change money at the bank downstairs from my office anytime. True, the branch in the burbs won't have any...but why should they be expected to hold mulitple currencies just in case someone needs something they can get at the airport anyway?

The bank exchange bureaux only buy currency and will not sell it . The bank head offices will sell but you have to give a good reason for wanting pounds with permission required by the Bank of Thailand if the amount required exceeds a certain amount.

(yes, I am aware that at the airport its easier but I am sure that they would balk at selling a really large amount)

The BOT requires a declaration for large amounts and the purposes they are to be used for, which can be very broad. I know plenty of Thai's who transfer their kids university fees, living costs, and in some cases, money to purchase a property, with no problems whatsoever.

Regulatory guidelines mean that it is harder for people to speculate on the baht, but the fact is there is always a way around things.

[Khutan]

I think you will find the declerations etc are part of a number of Anti- Money Laundering objectives.

I don't care, I send about 30k offshore a month and a really nice lady at the bank does everything for me while I look at the "Eye Candy"

As the Thai Baht is not whats regarded as a "Base Curency" the main demand to buy/sell or maintain a position would be generally around Bangkok Business hours. I would guess that the dealers in the major banks close their position at 4:00 pm or even earlier on a friday and the position stays there until Monday. The demand on the Baht outside those hours would probably be 2-5 % of whats happening during business hours, thus the greater movement in the Baht as its reflecten in a Non-Thai position.

The best thing would be to get a Thai Baht account at your bank, as however I said the Thai Bahs is not a base Currency or a Major, then that may be difficult.

You may have more luck in Singapore with a GBP and a THB account at a local bank rather than in London. A Dealers "Book Size" on the THB in Singapore would be greater then a London Dealer, who would only be in terested in the major currencies.

The problem with maintining an account in Singapore would be that the local banks would want to convert everything to Sing dollars before going to the pound and thet will double the spread.

Anyway Good Luck I would be looking for a truly multi-currency bank

[bendix]

In fact it was a con to get dollars cheaply.

As for Thailand it is not so simple to buy foreign currency. The bank exchange bureaux only buy currency and will not sell it . The bank head offices will sell but you have to give a good reason for wanting pounds with permission required by the Bank of Thailand if the amount required exceeds a certain amount.

(yes, I am aware that at the airport its easier but I am sure that they would balk at selling a really large amount)

More utter nonsense from thaivisa's very own Warren Buffet.

Getting overseas currency is as simple as falling off a chair. I buy it from the Bkk branch under my building regularly and have never been asked why. As samran said, you can't expect currency exchange booths operating in tourist areas to be fully loaded with different currencies; they are there as a convenience to tourists, not as international high finance exchange centres.

Similarly, I send the equivalent of US$5000 earned in Thailand to an overseas savings account every month. Again, noone bats an eyelid.

I do this so regularly that the lady i deal with knows what time and day I'm coming and invariably has the paperwork already taken care of, ready for me to sign.

Really, toppy, if you're going to position yourself as our financial watchdog, you ought to get your facts straight.

[steveromagnino]

More utter nonsense from thaivisa's very own Warren Buffet.

If he is Buffet, maybe you mean he is Jimmy Buffet. For all you know, this might be a future principle of value investing; using hedge funds to punish Thai banks and their backward exchange rate systems.

Anyway, if we are slinging around nick names, You can be Soros, as in, a scene from The Angus SteakHouse, as Mister and Missus Te Atatu from out west go out for a night on the town, and some fine dining.

Scene 1 act 1

Waiter I'll ordah the steak pluese cook it to a crusp, not a drop of blood aye bro.

Really sir? Are you joking?

No I um dudly soros aye.

[Totster]

Topfield, you could just leave all your GBP in UK and just use you Nationwide card in Thailand. Then you get that high rate all the time. Or perhaps once the fees and conversion charges come out you will be back to the cash rate again. The spread in Thailand between the cash rate and the TT rate is minor when dealing with the GBP. You have to pay a bit somewhere along the way.

JASUS.... don't get him started on Nationwide flex accounts !

totster

[backflip]

Neither Warren nor Jimmy Buffet. I was thinking dinner buffet, with some well-grilled crow.

[Naam]

The problem with maintining an account in Singapore would be that the local banks would want to convert everything to Sing dollars before going to the pound and thet will double the spread.

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that is definitely not the case. i am banking in Singapore with a multinational bank and hold (free of any charge) accounts in half a dozen currencies. amongst these THB in which i have my major expenses and which buy i outright (or during the last two years quite often forward) against any convertible currency, hold the Baht in an interest bearing account and transfer by SWIFT to my bank in Thailand whenever i require money. quite a simple procedure. there is a rather small flat fee that the headquarter of my thai bank charges me per transfer but irrelevant as far as the exchange rate is concerned.

[samran]

The problem with maintining an account in Singapore would be that the local banks would want to convert everything to Sing dollars before going to the pound and thet will double the spread.

-------

that is definitely not the case. i am banking in Singapore with a multinational bank and hold (free of any charge) accounts in half a dozen currencies. amongst these THB in which i have my major expenses and which buy i outright (or during the last two years quite often forward) against any convertible currency, hold the Baht in an interest bearing account and transfer by SWIFT to my bank in Thailand whenever i require money. quite a simple procedure. there is a rather small flat fee that the headquarter of my thai bank charges me per transfer but irrelevant as far as the exchange rate is concerned.

can I ask which bank?

Thanks

[Naam]

"can I ask which bank?"

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Credit Suisse

http://www.credit-suisse.com.sg/