Jump to content

Opening A Bank Account In Laos ?


Recommended Posts

I know its now much easier for folk without a work permit to open an account with several banks in Thailand, but FWIR you still need a work permit to do so in Laos. I'm sure coss has addressed this in one of his many posts, but I'm keen to know if this has changed, as even the Thai banks that operate in Laos dont appear to have 'cross-border' functionality i.e. deposit baht in Thailand and withdraw same in Laos.

 

The info I read was dated 2011 and claimed that most traders in Vientiane will accept baht, USD or kip and give you your change in kip - similar to the Cambodian 'dual currency' system with the riel and the USD. Having a single Thai account in baht would make any requirement to 'commute' between the two countries so much easier, but life is rarely that simple.

 

Over to you, coss. :grinyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They've got more strict, a while ago apparently you only needed a local to vouch for you. Now it is indeed, a work visa or similar, has to be shown for opening a bank acct. This from two banks and MLG's Chaperone #1 who works at a bank.

 

Everyone will take Baht and US$ as well as Kip, but they'll load the rate in their favour.

 

An ATM card works really well, but the down side is the "fee" these ATMs charge.

 

But the plus side of having your money in Kip is that term deposits for one year are running at 12%.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, guys. Coss, that rate is extremely attractive, but you have to have an account with a Laos bank to deposit said kip in the first place - bit of a circular argument, sadly. My bank (CBA) absolutely rapes me on every ATM withdrawal I make in Thailand, and I'm not keen to repeat that in Laos. I take your point re the banks working the exchange rate in their favour, but that still has to be better than getting hammered the way I was on my recent trip to Patts, and that was after I had taken the majority of my funds in Aussie dollars. When the time came to use my card, I had a sinking feeling - looking at my statement, said feeling was justified.

 

j2, I will definitely look into your Malaysian bank - I had assumed that it was a government regulation designed to limit foreign access to their bsnking system or something like that. AFAIK, Australian banks will happily accept money from anyone ....

 

Edit: this would seem to be good news - Maybank is everywhere in Msia:

 

http://www.vrl-financial-news.com/bpa/banking--payments-asia/issues/bpa-2011/bpa-30/malaysia%E2%80%99s-maybank-sets-sights.aspx

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...