Banking and Money Transfers in Thailand

Ten years ago, opening a Thai bank account was a tourist activity: passport, 500 baht, done in an hour. The anti-scam crackdown of 2023-2025 ended that era, and today your banking options track your visa status almost exactly. Here is how to get an account, pay like a local, move money in cheaply, and, if you are buying property, wire the purchase correctly, because one missing form can block a condo registration.

Opening an account: what works in 2026

Thai banks tightened onboarding hard after being flooded with mule accounts. The practical hierarchy now:

• Work permit or long-term visa: straightforward. With a Non-B and work permit, a Non-O, a DTV, an LTR or Privilege visa, plus proof of address, the mainstream banks open accounts routinely.
• Tourist entry: mostly refused at branch level. Exceptions exist, some branches near expat areas, sometimes with an agent or a premium deposit, but plan on no account until you hold a real visa. Which visa gets you there is covered in which visa for Thailand.
• Which bank: Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn (KBank) and SCB are the big three for foreigners. Bangkok Bank is the traditional expat choice with the most English-speaking branch staff; Kasikorn has arguably the best app. Branch discretion is real: if one branch says no, another may say yes, especially in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai.

Bring passport, visa, and proof of Thai address (lease, certificate of residence from immigration, or a Thai driving licence). Expect a debit card, the app, and PromptPay setup on the spot.

PromptPay: how Thailand actually pays

Thailand is functionally QR-first. PromptPay, the national instant payment system, links your bank account to your phone number, and every market stall, taxi and noodle cart displays a QR code. Transfers between Thai accounts are instant and free. Once you have a Thai account, you will stop carrying serious cash within a week. Without one, you are stuck in the cash-and-foreign-card world, which works but costs more at every step.

Cards, ATMs and the 220 baht tax on impatience

Thai ATMs charge foreign cards a fee of about 220 THB per withdrawal, on top of whatever your home bank charges, and the machine's "dynamic currency conversion" offer adds a bad exchange rate on top if you accept it. Three defences: always choose to be charged in THB, not your home currency; withdraw large amounts rarely rather than small amounts often; or skip the dance entirely with a multi-currency card. Wise and similar accounts let you hold THB and pay or withdraw at near mid-market rates, which is the standard bridge solution for the first months before a Thai account.

Moving money in: the cheap way

For regular living transfers, Wise and comparable services beat traditional bank wires on rate and fees for amounts up to a few hundred thousand baht: mid-market rate, roughly 0.4 to 0.7 percent total cost, arriving in hours. Old-style SWIFT wires from your home bank cost 20 to 50 dollars in fees plus a worse rate, but remain relevant for very large amounts and for one specific case that follows. Whatever the channel, keep records of every transfer: in Thailand's remittance-based tax system, showing what was savings versus income matters, as explained in taxes in Thailand for expats.

Property money: the FET form is not optional

Buying a condo in the foreign quota comes with a hard currency-control requirement: the purchase funds must arrive in Thailand as foreign currency, converted to THB by a Thai bank, and documented by a Foreign Exchange Transaction form (FET, formerly Thor Tor 3) for amounts of USD 50,000 or more, or equivalent bank confirmation letters below that. The Land Office will demand this paperwork to register foreign ownership. Practical rules:

• Send in foreign currency: instruct your bank to send USD, EUR or GBP for conversion in Thailand, never pre-converted THB, or the FET cannot be issued.
• Annotate the purpose: reference "purchase of condominium unit [name]" on the transfer so the receiving bank papers it correctly.
• Match the names: sender and condo buyer should be the same person; third-party funding creates registration problems.
• Route Wise carefully: some transfer services convert offshore and arrive as THB, which breaks the chain. For the purchase itself, a traditional international wire to your Thai account, or the developer's escrow, is the safe channel. The rest of the process is in buying property in Thailand.

Keep the FET forever: you need it again to repatriate the proceeds when you sell without friction.

Frequently asked questions