Tisco Bank buying out Standard Chartered's Thailand retail banking

[regedit]

11 hours ago, hyperdimension said:

Will Tisco offer the same 2.25% interest rate of Standard Chartered JustOne accounts?

same same.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well, why doesn't someone who's got their SCBT account moving to Tisco ask their new branch?

 

I tend to doubt it, since none of the other regular (non international) Thai banks have been paying a saving account interest rate like that that's available to non-Thais. And I'd doubt Tisco will be a leader when it comes to interest rates.

 

Edited September 8, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[fletchsmile]

I'd already asked and they said the interest rates will be the same initially. Names will change and we have the passbooks already:

 

eSaver becomes MSavings

Just One becomes MSavings

 

but rates are the same.

 

The Just One account is only 2.25% on the first 100k then drops to 1%. Fine for the kids and small amounts. 

 

They'll likely grandfather the accounts they take on initially. But over time there's a good chance they'll get phased out.

 

Same with Mortgage One. No traditional Thai banks offer an offset mortgage with such decent terms, but Tisco will take it on under the same terms. Whether they offer it to new clients in the future will remain to be seen.

 

 

[hyperdimension]

Standard Chartered have just deducted 200 THB for the annual ATM card fee (on 2017-09-01). Will the Standard Chartered ATM card still be of use after September?

Last year's fee was deducted in the beginning of October.

Edited September 9, 2017 by hyperdimension

[fletchsmile]

Quote

4. ATM/Debit Card Withdrawal
SCBT ATM/Debit cards will be available for transactions until 2:00 pm on 29 September 2017 from our ATM machines at SCBT branches, while you can withdraw money from other banks' ATM machines until 5:00 pm on 29 September 2017. However, we urge you to visit our SCBT branches or perform ATM withdrawals before 29 September 2017. If you have already visited a SCBT branch to sign the consent form to transfer the deposit and have opened a new account with TISCO, your TISCO ATM card will be available for use from 2 October 2017.

Pretty sure the Tisco ATM cards we were issued with were free as we'd already paid for SCBT ATM cards in the year

[fletchsmile]

For StanChart/ Tisco, apparently anyone with investment accounts in children's names by parents name then Tisco can't handle that. If you have anything already it will be OK until you come to redeem / sell units and then the names won't match up to automatically credit proceeds to your account.

The solution (after 2nd Oct) apparently is to go into Tisco after the handover date and:
1) Create new unitholder IDs for your child in their name only
2) Transfer the existing units into the new unitholder ID

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

At the moment we have bank accounts and investment accounts at Stan Chart in the format:

"Child Smile by Fletch Smile" (child by parent)

The bank accounts we have been given are in the child's name only so won't match the investment accounts

 

[cocopops]

Hi all,

 

I was moved from Standard Chartered to Tisco as well. Got the new passbook and the ATM card seems to work. Three things:

 

1) I'm not on Mobile Banking yet. They reckon there's some problem with Mobile Banking for people with passports (not Thai ID cards). Anybody with a passport on the Mobile Banking app yet?

 

2) They don't have Internet banking, but I've been set up with "e-statement", so I can at least see the balance online. So that's something. A poor man's online banking I suppose.

 

3) Here's the big one - I was told today that Tisco do not have a SWIFT code and that there is *no way* to transfer money in from another country. Has anybody else been told this? Or given some way to do international transfers (incoming - from abroad to Thailand).

 

Number 3 is kind of a deal-breaker for me. I don't invest or keep too much cash here - mostly just transfer money in and get it out through the ATM. Does anybody know of a workaround?

 

Thanks guys,

Cocopops.

 

 

[cocopops]

Quote

I was told today that Tisco do not have a SWIFT code and that there is *no way* to transfer money in from another country

 

Although my bank in HK reckons they do have a code. One for "Tisco public bank company" and a separate one for the securities broker. Odd...

[fletchsmile]

2 hours ago, cocopops said:

Hi all,

 

I was moved from Standard Chartered to Tisco as well. Got the new passbook and the ATM card seems to work. Three things:

 

1) I'm not on Mobile Banking yet. They reckon there's some problem with Mobile Banking for people with passports (not Thai ID cards). Anybody with a passport on the Mobile Banking app yet?

 

2) They don't have Internet banking, but I've been set up with "e-statement", so I can at least see the balance online. So that's something. A poor man's online banking I suppose.

 

3) Here's the big one - I was told today that Tisco do not have a SWIFT code and that there is *no way* to transfer money in from another country. Has anybody else been told this? Or given some way to do international transfers (incoming - from abroad to Thailand).

 

Number 3 is kind of a deal-breaker for me. I don't invest or keep too much cash here - mostly just transfer money in and get it out through the ATM. Does anybody know of a workaround?

 

Thanks guys,

Cocopops.

 

 

1) I can't get on mobile banking either. My (Thai) wife is fine. For me when I did the same process and input the activation code it told me that my passport number was wrong. I, my wife and the Tisco staff checked it wasn't. Apparently their system can't cope with passports that are made up only of numbers. Presumably as Thai passport numbers are preceded by letters. When I registered for e-Statement as the call centre seemed quite competent I asked them. They had my passport number so I knew it was in their system. They gave the same explanation. Both branch and call centre said I would need to wait for a software/system upgrade. Other non-Thais I know have had the same experience.

 

I tried my wife's though and seems an OK app. Quite nice

 

2) Yes eStatement is OK. Sort of a "read only" internet banking. Can't do anything except look. The credit card part doesn't work yet, nor does the summary page - that's both for either me or my wife. While my wife's mortgage loan shows up, the savings account linked to Mortgage One doesn't. The Mortgage One account does show on mobile banking though, and very importantly you can move money to and out of the account - just need to add the account in the app first.

 

3) I was told exactly the same thing about SWIFT transfers. I knew they were not going to accept outward transfers as that was well communicated. I have also been told they can't do inward transfers. No-one has claimed to me they don't have a SWIFT code though.

 

Tisco does have a SWIFT code:

 

http://swiftcodes.org/bank/tisco-bank-public-company-limited/

 

To be honest as I don't have a full internet banking + no mobile banking, so my ways to get money out are limited + they don't seem to know what they're doing on international inward transfers I see no point taking the risk or trying  

 

My workaround is to use another bank 

 

Other things to be careful:

 

- If you used to pay your credit card by direct debit I have been told different things by bank staff as to whether this is still valid and will be carried over. I've been told we need to fill in new DD forms by more than have said I don't need to

 

- For joint accounts you get only one ATM card.

 

- For joint accounts- only the first named holder can add the joint account on mobile banking. Unfortunately for us all the credit cards were paid out of this account: mine, wife's etc. Now we have a situation where I can't do anything with the account because I don't have mobile or full internet banking, my wife can't do anything with it on mobile banking as she's the second name.

 

- So we probably need to set up DDs for the credit cards from my Thai wife's single name account if we want to move money around digitally to have funds ready for the DD.

 

- If you want to know your Credit Card balance you can ring the call centre. That seems still under the care of Stan Chart. You will keep Stan Chart CC's until they expire

 

General work around though has been to almost empty most of the bank accounts and use other banks from now on  With the exception of the Mortgage One savings account which is offset against the mortgage loan.

 

For my Thai wife we can run most things fine, but for me as a foreigner, no internet or mobile banking, no online transfers, no online CC balance check etc means they won't be my main bank accounts any more. Also lost the facility where they send an SMS every time you make a CC payment or take money out.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2017 by fletchsmile

[Pib]

Tisco Bank sounds like a bank to avoid.

[cocopops]

Quote

3) I was told exactly the same thing about SWIFT transfers. I knew they were not going to accept outward transfers as that was well communicated. I have also been told they can't do inward transfers. No-one has claimed to me they don't have a SWIFT code though.

 

I guess she was simplifying it for me - "we don't have a SWIFT code that you can use". Anyhow, if they told you the same thing I guess that's that. When I asked about the mobile banking they said they were fixing it and I should wait, but when I mentioned the inward transfer thing the person I talked to actually started recommending other banks. Which says that it's not going to happen.

 

Quote

General work around though has been to almost empty most of the bank accounts and use other banks from now on  With the exception of the Mortgage

 

I think I'll adopt this plan too. It's good that you don't have to move your mortgage - that might have been a headache and a half - but they seem to have failed their expat customers in almost every other way possible.

 

Thanks for posting all this info. I imagine there are lurkers who will benefit too.

[fletchsmile]

21 hours ago, Pib said:

Tisco Bank sounds like a bank to avoid.

Mortgage One is still the best mortgage product in Thailand. As an offset mortgage (with a corresponding deposit account) you can overpay up to 50% any time and then withdraw it back whenever you want. This significantly reduces your interest paid. Any over-payment above 50% is permanent.

 

They are one of the market leaders on auto finance too.

 

Aside from these aspects though,  you're right, probably best avoided. Particularly for foreigners

[Pib]

Sounds like Tisco Bank focuses on "loans" which would be Thai-focused vs across-the-board banking services.  Seems to be more of a finance oriented company (limited/specific focus) versus banking company (a wider focus).   But that is their conscious business decision which is OK fine. 

[fletchsmile]

On 10/10/2017 at 5:12 PM, Pib said:

Sounds like Tisco Bank focuses on "loans" which would be Thai-focused vs across-the-board banking services.  Seems to be more of a finance oriented company (limited/specific focus) versus banking company (a wider focus).   But that is their conscious business decision which is OK fine. 

Their historic focus was as an investment and securities as a finance company.:

Thai Investment and Securities COmpany 

They have also become a leading player in auto finance/ HP

The acquisition of StanChart makes sense as part of their strategy to become a wider full service bank.

 

[fletchsmile]

Just as an update:

 

The mobile banking issue for foreigners has now been fixed.

 

Mobile banking still has Thai only version. But I have it and it works fine. The maximum daily transfer limit seems to be only 200k though, and it can't cope with your joint accounts. Apart from that nice and easy to use.

 

Kids can't have mobile banking. 

 

All 4 of us, (Foreigner + Thai wife + 2 kids) now have eStatement (read only online banking). Set up for kids was a bit more difficult.

 

Have had various issues with mutual funds, particularly for the kids, but we're working thru them LOL

 

Won't bother going into all the other issues, but feel free to PM me if you're having similar. 

 

Anyway getting there :)

 

Cheers

Fletch :)

 

 

[GavinK]

On 08/09/2017 at 11:52 AM, regedit said:

same same.

TISCO dropped the rates to 1% last week on the One Saver and M Saver accounts.