Banking in Thailand

With all the current turmoil in the banking systems of the world I thought now might be a good time to look at banking here in Thailand from an expatriate perspective.

A lot will depend on your individual circumstances, whether you are working here, on an extended holiday or simply retired and perhaps living on a pension and investments. As I fall into the latter category this article maybe more useful for the retiree.
You could simply choose to leave your money at home and access it via the international banking system, there are plenty of ATM's here and they accept most cards. This of course can lead to a couple of dilemmas, for instance what do you do if you loose your card or like me have it retained by a Thai bank cash machine. Also there is the issue of what your home country bank charges you to withdraw your cash and of course what exchange rate they apply. An alternative approach might be to open a Thai bank account, something that I have done, which has both advantages and disadvantages. The first obstacle to overcome is finding a bank that will let you open an account, but there are quite a few, although they all seem to have different criteria. Purely by chance I choose the Bangkok Bank, all they required from me was an address in Thailand and a copy of my passport. Incidentally at the time I was living in a hotel waiting for the builders to finish my house. They did however use my new homes address for my account.
I made an initial deposit and left the bank 30minutes later with a savings account, complete with pass book and ATM card. Incidentally it is very hard to get a current(checking) account or indeed a credit card here, but my ATM card gives me access to facilities for transferring money and paying bills so I can't see any advantage in having a current account anyway.

The advantages of having this account in country means that I can make electronic transfers from my UK bank (they charge a hefty £25 each time for the privilege) but I get a better rate of exchange from the Bangkok Bank and they make no charge for receiving funds. Unfortunately the Thai Baht and the Pound have been quite volatile lately so the value of my regular monthly transfers from the UK can vary quite a lot. Clearly this is something to consider if you are on a tight budget.
It usually takes 1-3 days for funds to show up in my account. Another plus is that if you want an extension of stay (retirement visa) then one route to obtaining one is by having 800,000 Baht in a Thai account.

The main disadvantage, apart from exchange rates, of having a lot of cash on deposit here is that the banks pay very little interest to foreign account holders (0.75% in my case). You might also feel that having a lot of money tied up in Thailand with its unpredictable political system is also not wise.

Personally I like to cover all my bases so besides my bank accounts in Thailand and the UK I also have a Visa credit card which I rarely use but keep for emergencies.