Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are posing the question, will it get harder to open a Bank Account in 2024? I have actually had this question posed to me by some folks. It is it is a good point.

The New Year, the international New Year especially, you oftentimes will see new policies immediately implemented in a new year so it is not outside the realm of possibility that we could see changes to internal banking rules regarding foreigners setting up Bank Accounts. As we have discussed in other videos, tax policy as well is a major concern to many foreign nationals; tax policy and banking policies can oftentimes be somewhat intertwined.

That said, over time what I have noticed is bureaucracies, be they private in the form of corporate bureaucracy, so banks for example or public bureaucracies in the forms of government bureaucracies, nothing does ever seem to trend toward getting easier. It always seems like things sort of trend toward the more complex; more documentation, more paperwork. Now banking has always been a bit of a tricky thing here. I think probably the second most talked about when we are talking about, not necessarily complaining but just comparing expat notes, I think the second most talked about topic next to visas is banking. When expats talk out here about things that annoy them about Thailand or getting things done in Thailand, banking always seems to be one thing that pops up. Again visas are high on the list, followed closely by banking. 

Do I think things are going to change particularly in 2024? Not in any fundamental way. I don't think there is going to be like a crash of lightning and then magically everything is going to change with regard to banking. No. If anything, I think it will just kind of evolve on the general path of things becoming more complicated inside of these sort of systems over time.