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.

Not really visa related but maybe someone could share some advice. I have had a notification from Google that they will change my country associated with my account (including emails) from the uk to Thailand. Does this really have any dramatic effect to anything? I still use a lot of uk services especially financial? . I have the option to submit a request to change region back to the uk but I don’t know 1) if I really need to and 2) whether it would be accepted as I spend most of the time In Thailand?

I’ve just had my banking app temporarily suspended.

I was notified last week that my banking app would be suspended due to my name on my account and my sim not matching. I opened both with my passport.

However I decided to fulfil their wishes, I went to my SIM card provider and got the required receipt showing my name and phone number, I then duly went to my bank and provided the receipt from the phone company, my passport and I was photographed again.

Naturally I thought ok job done everything should be ok no banking app suspension for me.

Tit, my banking app was suspended today. I will now have to visit my bank and go through this again I guess.

Hi everyone, this message might be relevant to some of you and I could use some advice: I’m trying to open an Interactive Brokers (IBKR) account, but they’re asking for a TIN (Thai Identification Number). The thing is, I’ve just changed my tax residency and I don’t my TIN at the moment.

Has anyone managed to get around a similar situation?

Is the TIN absolutely necessary?

Thanks in advance for your help! 😁

For those wondering why it's difficult to open a bank account, this could give you some information. Take it as you will..

[members only]

Searching for agent to pen a bank account in phuket

Hi. I want to open a bank account with my dtv visa(workation). Do you know any agents that can help with it?

Any agent here who can help me open a bank account with dtv in phuket?

For those in Phuket with a DTV looking to open a bank account, I successfully opened one at TTB, Robinson Lifestyle Thalang in just two days.

Documents I provided:

1. Passport

2. DTV

3. Driving license (from my home country) with the exact same name as in my passport

4. Cover letter from my Muay Thai gym (the same one used for my DTV application)

5. Lease agreement for my accommodation (signed by both my landlord and me)

6. A signed copy of my landlord’s ID

7. Certificate of residence from the immigration office (I got mine from Blue Tree)

Be prepared for them to keep some or all original copies of the documents. I specifically requested my original Certificate of Residence back since it may be needed for other purposes.

The process took two days. The bank wasn’t busy, but the account opening counter was slow. Their system didn’t allow DTV holders to open an account, so they had to send my application to the Bangkok main office for approval. The next morning, I got a call from the bank, went back to sign a few more forms, and walked out with my passbook, debit card, and mobile banking set up—now I can use PromptPay.

P.S. I visited every bank in Central, and all of them said no.

Regarding Bank Accounts (as well as other non-DTV) items TikTok has just posted this. I am posting this in DTV about the new banking regulatory requirements only.

They are very well connected and have been around a long time.