Tourists barred from opening accounts at Bangkok Bank over rising online fraud

Thailand’s largest commercial bank, Bangkok Bank, has stopped opening accounts for foreign tourists regardless of their country of origin as of January this year.

A bank representative confirmed the new policy in a statement to the Russian state-run agency TASS, per Caliber.Az.

"Since January of this year, new rules have come into effect at Bangkok Bank. Foreign tourists are no longer allowed to open accounts at the bank. This restriction also applies to holders of the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), which permits stays of up to 180 days, as it is considered a type of tourist visa," the spokesperson said, citing a rise in online fraud as the reason behind the tightened policy.

The bank representative also addressed reports that Bangkok Bank had blocked the cards of certain Russian citizens.

"I'm not sure that blocking an account necessarily means it will be closed. In some cases, clients are required to visit a bank branch to resolve the issue. In certain situations, we need to perform facial scans and enter biometric data into the system," she explained.

She further clarified that foreigners in Thailand on retirement or non-immigrant visas are still eligible to open accounts with the bank.

These non-immigrant visas are typically issued to foreigners who come to Thailand for work, study, or family reasons, and their holders usually possess a work permit issued by Thai authorities.

To recall, in January, Kazakh banks Kaspi and Home Credit Bank suspended issuing cards to foreigners. This decision was made against the background of the ban of the local agency for regulation and development of the financial market to open cards for non-residents without residence permits for more than a year.

Later, they started issuing cards to non-residents again. At the same time, the cards are issued only to citizens of the Eurasian Economic Union, foreigners with residence permits in the country, as well as diplomatic staff.

 By Tamilla Hasanova