It has changed and the news for most of us that using our banks online system to transfer funds from our US banks through the NY branch will most likely be coming to an end on April 1, 2019 (no this is not an early April Fools joke).
You can visit the page here: http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/ ... omUSA.aspx
NOTE, this change does not appear to have any impact for Direct Deposits of social security or other US Government payments.
Basically the regulatory body that governs the ACH system, The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), has put a requirement into their Operating Rules that funds being transferred through the ACH system to an account outside the USA will have to use an International ACH Transfer (IAT) format which requires more information to be obtained than what is necessary for a strictly domestic transfer, e.g., address of receiving bank as well as address of receiving beneficiary in Thailand.
For those that have not already set up ACH transfers, they cannot do so unless using the IAT format. For those of us that are already using it, we can continue until April 1, 2019 and then our sending banks must use the IAT format; if not, any funds received by the NY Branch will be returned and not forwarded to your Bangkok Bank account.
Based on some quick research, it appears that the IAT format is not available in most US online banking systems for individual consumer accounts. They may do so for some commercial accounts. So, it appears many of us will have to find alternative methods - I have already had recommended to me three services that will provide the transfer service for a fee in most cases - one was from one of the Thaivisa postings to the thread, another from a fellow Expat after the end of last Sundays Pattaya City Expat Club meeting (I did announce the change during the Open Forum portion of the meeting), and the third, which appears promising, was from one of my US Bank's webpages on international wire transfers (they mentioned such services were less expensive and actually had a link to one they recommended).
I plan to check out the one my Bank linked this coming week, perhaps sending a small amount to see how well it works - from some preliminary checking it appears promising because their fee appears to be US$10 for up to US$10,000, they offer 1-2 day service, and although they apparently will convert the funds to Baht before sending, it it appears to be a good exchange rate - they had a generator to put in US$ amount and currency it is to be converted to and will show the amount that will be sent -- I just checked it and it showed one US$ would be exchanged at 33.05 baht and delivered in one day. The one mentioned the person on Thaivisa shows their exchange rate to be 33.3.
When I do set up with a service and find it satisfactory, I will share the name & URL and my experience in setting it up.
For those that may be interested, the following is on J.P. Morgan website and shows the rule was apparently made in 2009 - so maybe Bangkok Bank NY Branch got caught and made to comply - but thank goodness for the grace period for those of us already using the service:
The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) will require a new format for certain ACH transactions. This new rule changes the data file formats required to originate U.S. domestic ACH transactions when they are part of a payment chain that begins or ends in another country. Payment transactions that begin as wires, or interbank transfers from abroad that are converted to ACH by a U.S. financial institution, are included in this definition and need to be formatted according to international ACH transaction rules. Transactions that begin as ACH payments destined for other countries also need to comply with the new format. These ACH payments must be formatted using the new standard entry class code, international ACH transaction (IAT).
The new IAT format is designed to help law enforcement agencies detect, investigate and prosecute money laundering and other financial crimes by creating and preserving an information trail of entities sending and receiving funds through U.S financial institutions' monetary systems. Your company is responsible for identifying these payment transactions, formatting them according to the rules and paying any fines for non-compliance.
https://www.jpmorgan.com/tss/General/In ... 8418629713