UK or Thai Bank

[leither69]

With the exchange rate up slightly, what do people think about the best place to bank my money?

John

[daddy]

The best way will be that you send your home currency (pounds?) to a Thaibank account and edxchange it here in Thaibath.
You get a better rate.

[leither69]

Yes, I understand that, am hoping someone willl tell tell me why it may be a problem as I can't see what that may be? ie thai banks are unsafe or some other rason I can't think off

[Dannie Boy]

Yes, I understand that, am hoping someone willl tell tell me why it may be a problem as I can't see what that may be? ie thai banks are unsafe or some other rason I can't think off

I don't think there is any problem as such - thousands of expats have Thai bank accounts here. I personally bank with Kasikorn and have always been happy with their service, but I'm sure all the main banks are very similar, it's just that Kasikorn seem to be one of the easiest banks in terms of lack of bureaucracy to open an account.

[HHTel]

Nothing wrong with the banks in Thailand. They deal as other banks in the UK do. Some of their banks have branches abroad. Thailand have come a long way. They even have electricity and running water!!!

[dalmatiandave]

I am not 100% sure as I haven't Googled but be aware that most banking institutions have a maximum amount they will pay out to account holders should the bank go tits up. I believed in Thailand it is/around 100000 baht. That is not a lot if you are considering holding large amounts of baht. There is also a law covering account compensation with a UK bank and it is considerably higher. Kasikorn is a good bank and probably financially sound but one needs to be aware of the risks. Spreading your finances across different countries (if appropriate) may help. I personally have most of my money offshore.

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[leither69]

Thanks dalmatiandave, that is the kind of advice I was asking for, I have no interest in wether thailand has electricity as per the previous comments

[HHTel]

If you're talking about large sums of money, then it's better offshore or in your home country. One of the problems of having large sums in Thailand is if and when you want to move it back. Lots of hoops to jump through to make that happen. It's also worth thinking about having a UK sterling account here which gives you more control over the exchange rate.

[dalmatiandave]

If you're talking about large sums of money, then it's better offshore or in your home country. One of the problems of having large sums in Thailand is if and when you want to move it back. Lots of hoops to jump through to make that happen. It's also worth thinking about having a UK sterling account here which gives you more control over the exchange rate.

Another good point there.

I had great difficulty in sending about 2.7m baht back to the UK last July. I had bought a house back in 2004 in Pattaya. All paperwork proving the money had come in from UK for that purchase was available after the sale last year. In fact the baht amount was smaller than the original amount sent here but because I had purchased the house in a company name the head office of Kasikorn wanted to see the minutes of all the directors meetings. Well of course I couldn't produce the minutes but the bank insisted. In the end the bright customer service girl told me no red flags would be raised if I sent 4 transactions of about 700000 baht at a time which is what I did. So it can be a bit of a minefield if bringing in a large sum with a possibility that one day it might need to find its way back out of here. It can be done but they do like to put up some barriers.

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