mightyducksman

Are you citigold and they still charged this fee? I'm assuming withdrawing directly from the bank could avoid a transaction fee?

I opened a citigold account in part for its supposed international benefits, but just found out <1 week in advance of a trip that they don't carry Baht in their exchange service. Pretty frustrating that I'll then be hit with a transaction fee by them despite the waived foreign exchange.

transpac

Not sure if this might mean more fee-free ATMs ultimately?



BANKING

Fitch: Foreign banks to take larger rolefollowing BAY deal

11/07/2013

Thailand's banking industry is seeing the growing presence of foreign banks, particularly those from Asia-Pacific, says Fitch Rating following Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ's (BTMU) proposed takeover of Bank of Ayudhya (BAY).

If successful the acquisition would increase foreign banks' sharein total commercial bank assets in Thailand to 26% from 18%. BAY would become the largest foreign-owned bank in Thailand, as the fifth-largest commercial bank here.

It would also mark the first time the 49% foreign ownership limit is waived for an acquisition not related to financial rehabilitation of the acquired bank or liquidation of bank shares owned by the government.

The Bank of Thailand recently announced it will issue up to five foreign commercial bank subsidiary licences, which allow up to 20 branches and 20 ATMs. This will provide for a wider scope of activity than previous branch licences, but still falls short of a full banking licence Fitch expects potential applicants to be Asian banks that are new entrants to Thailand.



http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/...le-in-thailand

transpac

As near as I can determine, the fee for a Visa-affiliated ATM card withdrawal remains 150 baht, while the fee for an MC-affiliated ATM card withdrawal is now 180 baht.

AEON ATMs remain fee-free.

Boraxo

Are there any AEON ATMs at BKK arrivals?

tide

None. Many times AEON ATMs are just freestanding boxes in malls. There is an ATM locator on their website.

dsquared37

All the ATMs I've been to are contained within a branch (in a mall/TESCO outlet). This leads to the ATMs only being accessible during banking hours.

transpac

No.

Like every bank here, AEON has a combination of free-standing ATMs and ATMs located within branches.

Perhaps the easiest, most central AEON branch+ATM locations might be:

Terminal 21 Shopping Mall at Asoke BTS/Sukhumvit MRT, basement level.

Central Rama 9 Shopping Mall at Rama 9 MRT, 5th floor.

If you have a specific location please share it and we can look for the nearest AEON ATM.

Fan2502

This and the other thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thail...dispenser.html) are a little bit going out of hand so I don't know if the question was already answered.

Does AEON give a lower rate because they don't impose the 180 THB fee?

So I run a test:

Last Friday (19.7.) I used2 ATMs at BigC Lamphun. AEON and Kasikorn. Both charged exactly the same rate. But of course Kasikorn addded 180 baht on top.

Pardon if the issue was already settled.

tide

It is not the bank who sets the rate - instead, it is the interbank network who does this e.g. Mastercard, Visa, JCB, Unionpay etc

Banks then can tack on other fees on top of this.

dsquared37

That is the commonly held belief. However there are some claiming that Aeon gives a worse exchange rate to compensate for not charging the foreign ATM fee. Which doesn't take into account that the fee is mandated by the Thailand Bankers' Association of which Aeon is not a part.

nkedel

That may depends on where you're doing the currency conversion. Many ATMs in Thailand offer DCC, where it charges against your account in your home currency. Unlike a charge in Baht (or in whatever the native currency of the ATM is, speaking more generally) it's not clear that those charges are done at a consistent interbank rate.

OTOH, speaking purely for Thailand, I've found the DCC rates generally at least fairly competitive -- for example, on my second-most-recent arrival (February), I decline the rate offered me via DCC on one of the airport ATMs (TMB, I think) and the interbank rate I ended up with through Citi/Maestro* was about a half baht per dollar WORSE than the one I'd been offered by the ATM.

Not a huge cost to having said no, and I'd hardly call this proof DCC is better**, but it is clearly not that bad... while in a lot of other countries, DCC rates are a clear and obvious scam.

(* not counting the foreign fee, which Citi charges non-Citigold customers regardless of whether the charge is in dollars or foreign currency.)
(** as opposed to back during the whole "in country rate"/"out of country rate" debacle after the coup, when that or carrying cash/TCs was pretty much mandatory.)

RustyC

The whole Thailand Bankers' Association bit would be blatantly illegal price-fixing in the U.S. Not that banks in the U.S. don't act similarly; they just do it by matching prices and not competing one-by-one. No meetings in smoke-filled rooms and certainly nothing put to paper, but similar net effect.

I tend to use the Terminal 21 branch the most for Aeon, but hours indeed are limited (and if memory serves they close earlier than the mall does))

You can also get an account that rebates ATM fees, but that won't send any kind of message to stop the bad behavior by banks. And before people start with the uninformed "They shouldn't have to give non-customers something for free" bit, they need to be reminded that the interchange fee has long been there and is still there...the B150 is just a second charge on top of that. So even Aeon is getting money if you use them.

Am sure Aeon is being pressured to fall in line...just as Citibank no doubt was. Kudos to Aeon for resisting, so far at least.

tide

I understand the skepticism. I must admit that I too thought the same once.

I use a Schwab ATM card (Visa). On each occasion (and there have been more than a few) I've used AEON, each time the exchange rate has matched the rates posted by Visa.

Fan2502's experience upthread seems to corroborate this.

Mastercard rates OTOH seem consistently better for baht-USD than Visa

LIH Prem

That can only be true if Aeon is involved in setting an exchange rate for the transaction. For US based ATM card holders, they are not involved in setting the exchange rate. The transaction is done in local currency; conversion is done in the US by the bank or card network in the US. Bank statements should show the transaction in US$ with the details of the currency conversion plus any fees paid by the uninformed or unprepared.

-David

dsquared37

Agreed. I'm not one who believes Aeon sets the rate nor one who believes the rate is worse than other Thai banks.

My bank, Schwab, refunds the ATM fees but I still prefer to avoid the charges when possible rather than reward the practice.