HSBC in Bangkok

Have you tried contacting HSBC Premier in your own country and asking them? My initial HSBC Premier account was opened in the UK but they helped me to open accounts in other countries including Malaysia and Singapore.

Shill88 wrote:

Have you tried contacting HSBC Premier in your own country and asking them? My initial HSBC Premier account was opened in the UK but they helped me to open accounts in other countries including Malaysia and Singapore.

I opened a HSBC Premier account in Ho Chi Minh City and maybe I will also open an account in Singapore next year.
HSBC in Ho Chi Minh City was endeavored to help only to open the account. Afterwards nobody answered my emails with some money transfer questions. I don't expect that someone from HSBC Ho Chi Minh City will support me to open an account in Bangkok. But I will try it.
I want open the account in Bangkok to deposit the 800k Baht for the retirement visa.
I think HSBC Thailand want a minimum amount of 1 million Baht to get the Premier Status. So I only need one account to keep the HSBC Premier Status and to deposit 800k for the retirement visa.
And I don't need anymore park 1 billion Dong in the HSBC Vietnam account to keep the Premier Status.

Normally, you only need to reach the Premier status with one of your accounts. For example, mine used to be in the UK, but later I made my Malaysian Premier account the primary one, so as long as it reached the minimum amount required to remain a Premier customer then all my Premier accounts in other countries could be zero and it doesn't matter. Now my primary Premier account is in Indonesia because the minimum threshold is lower than in the other countries. The other thing is that even if your required minimum balance is below the required amount to have Premier status, HSBC will still accept this but will charge you a monthly penalty. For example, if my Premier balance is below the minimum amount required to maintain the account, they will just charge me a monthly penalty of around US$17. So if you already have Premier accounts I don't think you need to reach their minimum in savings to have a Premier account. You only get charged the penalty for having funds lower than the required amount in your Primary Premier account, whichever country that is.

You might already know all this, not sure. I've found that in certain countries, HSBC Premier is not all that efficient or clear, but, at least they are truly international.

Yes, that's why I chose HSBC and not Citibank.
At Citbank I would have had to have 200k USD in Singapore AND 1 trillion VND in Vietnam to have Citigold status in both countries.

Today I asked HSBC Ho Chi Minh City whether they can help me to open a HSBC account in Bangkok. They said that HSBC in Bangkok is not a retail bank.
And I read in the internet that HSBC has withdrawn from Thailand.

Maybe Citibank is the better solution after all.
But at Citibank Ho Chi Minh City they told me that you must have the required minimum amount in each country (1 Billion VND in Vietnam and 2 Million Baht in Thailand and 200k USD in Singapore) in order you have the Citigold status in these countries.
But I am not sure if this is really true. But until now I didn't find other information about this.

It sounds like a near impossible situation. May I ask if it is essential to have a foreign bank account in Thailand? Even though I have international bank accounts I also use local banks and I transfer funds from overseas (Europe) via TransferWise to local banks in Asia and the transfers are almost instantaneous and with good exchange rates. I just wonder if you'd consider that.

Shill88 wrote:

May I ask if it is essential to have a foreign bank account in Thailand?

Yes you are right.

In Vietnam it is difficult to transfer money out of Vietnam. There are rules and paperwork that make it difficult or even impossible with a Vietnamese bank (due to the lack of competence of the bank employees and the language barrier). Within HSBC or Citibank the whole thing is easier.
But I think I will open another HSBC account in Singapore and then I can transfer money from Vietnam there.

So I will probably choose a Thai bank in Bangkok to deposit the 800k Baht.

Can you recommend a Thai bank where you can open a bank account without a fixed address in Thailand (I am planning to buy a condo, but not yet), with only a tourist visa or visa exemption (I will apply for a retirement visa later)?

Thank you very much.

Sorry I don't personally have a bank account in Thailand so not sure about the procedure but hopefully some others can provide you the information you require.

Perhaps using a temporary address would be acceptable but even then some banks need proof of residence there such as utility bills etc. It's also a good idea to choose local banks though. HSBC tend to block people's accounts if they suspect any kind of money laundering or using a personal account for business, and local banks generally don't care too much where the funds come from and rarely block accounts.

Bangkok Bank is the overall best choice for "international" banking procedures.