Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the issue of banking here in Thailand. I am taking this specifically more from an American kind of angle because Americans definitely have to deal with FATCA and the IRS no matter where they are around the world. Then on top of it, we will get into a little bit of analysis regarding the OECD or the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development which I have got to be honest with you, their brand of development is not something I'm particularly interested in.

I thought of making this video after reading a recent comment on our channel, quote: "I have found the issue is when the bank changes its terms, policies and procedures, then they have changed the contract between you and the bank and so they ask you to come in with more docs, get scanned, sign the new agreement that state they can keep your money; they can sell your info to 3rd parties, you are responsible for FATCA IRS reporting, although you are not American, and of course this all goes to the tax regime at the OECD." The first thing I thought of and actually we will make the thumbnail this. It's the scene in Star Wars where Darth Vader says, "I'm altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it again." It's like sometimes the banks get into this stuff. The arbitrary and capricious nature of the way that banks are acting right now especially in the aftermath of - it is my understanding, OECD has not been promulgated by Thailand - Thailand has not come on board with OECD. It's thinking about it, but here we are dealing with all of this stuff and honestly if this is an indication of the way things are going to go moving forward for Thailand, as a Thai, I'm hoping we don't go this way, let's not do OECD.

Now that said, this video as I said is more for American edification. Look FATCA is a thing, the Foreign Account Transparency Compliance Act, and if you hold more than 10,000 US Dollars or equivalent in an offshore bank account, which most folks that have either a Thai Retirement Visa or a Thai Marriage Visa are going to fall under that rubric because generally speaking those folks, and I am not saying everybody, you could use inbound remittances for example for Marriage or Retirement Visas rather than a set balance, but most folks opt to use a set balance; if you are an American, then yeah you have to do disclosure through the FBAR, Foreign Bank Account Reporting - actually not to IRS directly, that's a bit of a misnomer - to FinCEN under Treasury that you hold those accounts. So that's something to bear in mind if you are an American. 

Now yeah, I sort of see the commenter’s point where they are saying yeah I have got to come in and deal with this even though I am not an American. Well yeah, effectively it is kind of turns out that way because the upshot of the policies are that they are trying to be in compliance with the United States for a variety of different reasons. If you go back to the reason for FATCA and how it was brought in, it is my understanding it started with sort of a conflict involving UBS out of Switzerland and the result is if they don't maintain compliance with the Americans, then they can sort of have negative ramifications within the Swift System which is its own problem, or they can also be immediately slapped with a withholding sort of tax on anything to and from the United States, any transactions going through the United States. So there are negative consequences and there is a reason I get why the banks feel the need to be assiduous in dealing with FATCA. For Americans, you have got to deal with it and the upshot is you have got to deal with filing an FBAR. I get it, third country nationals who really aren't liable under that, still have to sort of put up with it. 

That said, I guess the point of this video is to just be aware of these things associated with banking in Thailand and if nothing else I just would again like to voice my own opinion here. I don't think it's a good idea for Thailand to continue to maintain these policies because I think it is going to drive people away; I think it's going to drive investment away, and I just don't think it's good policy. I don't think it is frankly in line with the ethos that is what it means to be Thai.