Bangkok Bank, the biggest one in Thailand.
Someone said (actually 100s posters here, may be more elsewhere) they (the Bangok Bank) do not care about their customers. They care about their profitability.
We, foreigners in Thailand are low value customers, a nuisance down to being junk customers.
We do not take, en masse, home loans, we have no credit cards from the BKK bank. That is what the BBKank (any bank) wants.
Look at this. CitiBank, in Japan, withdrew from retail banking, sold it to SMBC (Sumitomo Mitsubishi Banking Corporation).
CitiBank was the darling for all foreigners in Japan, English spoken at the branches, their site in English.
The hook is: you have to have something like 5 million THB in your account, in Japan. Then, all services are free.
The BKK bank may lose some customers, they actually want them out. Street vendors and foreigners.
I can only guess, BKK bank is not a payment processing system, it is costing them resources for minor irrelevant transactions.
With IBM for 40 years, i came to know how the banks work. They are shops where they sell money.
Probably, no drama when the banks explained to the Thai government what it is.
Yes, there was some response, uproar from the grass roots but nothing has happened.
TLDR : Answer Summary
This post discusses the perception among expatriates in Thailand that Bangkok Bank prioritizes profitability over customer service, particularly for foreign clients who are often viewed as low-value customers. Many contributors share their experiences, noting that banks tend to cater more to Thai nationals and that foreigners may face challenges with language barriers and limited banking products. The debate also touches on broader banking practices and how foreign funds are utilized by the bank. Some comments highlight a similar attitude in other countries, suggesting a common trend across international banks.
