The Pattaya City Expats Club, at their meeting on Sunday 12th November, gave a very warm welcome to Waraporn Srinaka and her team from the headquarters of Bangkok Bank. A senior specialist in the Foreign Customer Segments Division of the Global Payments Department, she was able to provide the expatriates with a range of banking advice and solutions.
Waraporn joined Bangkok Bank’s Private Banking Division at their Head Office in 1993, initiating her highly distinguished professional career in the banking sector. After a couple of years, she joined her family in pursuing an overseas career and lived in various countries before rejoining Bangkok Bank in Singapore in 2005 as an Account Manager, Property Financing. After 15 years of living overseas as an expatriate, and a few very successful years with Bangkok Bank Singapore, in 2008 Waraporn was promoted back to Bangkok Bank Head Office to further develop Business Development and Channel Marketing. Here she was in charge of expatriate Banking Projects and Expat Financial Schemes.
During her career, she has received many commendations, which make her a highly respected banking professional amongst her peers. As an expatriate herself, Waraporn possesses a unique insight into the banking issues and challenges faced by expats throughout Thailand today.
Upon arrival, club members were presented with a ‘welcome pack’ by Waraporn’s team, which contained a myriad of useful information on services offered by the bank. A survey to establish if and how the bank might improve their support and backing to the expat community was also available for completion.
Waraporn introduced herself and her team, which included a colleague from head office and the Branch Managers from Pratamnak Road, Pattaya Beach, Pattaya Nua and Walking Street Branches. She explained that since being founded in 1944, Bangkok Bank has enjoyed the proud heritage of being Thailand’s leading bank – serving the expatriate community for the last 70 years.
She explained that it is one of the largest regional banks in Southeast Asia with total assets of approximately 2,944,230 million baht. It has 17 million accounts including business and retail customers, approximately 240 business centers and business desks. They also have a nationwide network of more than 1,200 branches (including self-service outlets), 9,300 automated teller & 1,200 plus cash deposit machines, telephone banking, and a convenient easy-to-use bilingual internet and mobile banking platform that enables customers to do fast, round-the-clock banking.
She added that altogether the bank has 32 overseas branches – the largest overseas branch network of any Thai bank. This network spanned 15 economies including: United Kingdom, United States, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. This makes it easier for expats to access their accounts from their home countries and to experience reduced costs with international services.
Waraporn was keen to point out that Bangkok Bank welcomes foreign custom and has produced a written guide providing in-depth information about the range of products and services available to them. A copy of this can be obtained from any branch. The aim is to help customers arrange their banking while living and settling in Thailand, by using its local knowledge and global networks to maximize available opportunities.
The helpful staff of Bangkok Bank will assist customers in choosing a bank account that is right for them, whether this be a Thai Baht Resident Account or a Foreign Currency Deposit Account. They will talk them through the account types available to expats, whether it be a basic savings account; a fixed deposit account or a foreign currency deposit account.
She said they will provide assistance with international fund transfer solutions to help manage currency movements and they can offer a wide range of investment and other products to help expats grow and protect their wealth.
“We have 23 branches across Pattaya,” she said. “We are happy to assist all for their banking needs in Thailand. For more information about Bangkok Bank banking products and services, you can visit our website at www.bangkokbank.com or email [email protected].” With that, Waraporn ended her presentation and answered questions from club members. After this, she was thanked for her comprehensive talk, and presented with the club’s certificate of appreciation.
Member Ren Lexander’s interview with Waraporn about her presentation to the PCEC can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL0QoxpECWY
After the presentation, MC Roy Albiston brought everyone up to date on upcoming events. This was followed by the “Open Forum” portion of the meeting, where questions are asked and answered and comments made about expat living in Thailand. For more information on the Club and their activities, visit www.pcec.club.
