Vittaya Ratanakorn, Governor of the Bank of Thailand (BOT), announced that the BOT has issued regulations to standardize service fees and reduce several charges. This aims to assist the general public and SMEs in accessing financial products and services at fair, reasonable rates that do not impose undue burdens. The regulations cover 19 fees across four categories, ensuring that fees for basic financial products and services by financial institutions and credit card operators are consistent, transparent, and better aligned with service costs.
Previously, the BOT found that some financial product service fees did not reflect actual costs—for example, certain fees persisted despite technology reducing or eliminating those costs. Additionally, fees varied greatly among institutions or lacked clear cost-based rationale. Therefore, the BOT deemed it necessary to set unified fee standards and reduce some fees to better reflect costs. The adjusted fee items are summarized as follows.
1. Deposit-related services: including fees for requesting bank account statements, financial status certificates, and maintenance fees on dormant accounts with balances below specified thresholds.
2. Card-related services: including issuance and annual fees for basic ATM and debit cards, as well as any fees or charges for cash withdrawals via credit cards.
3. Payment transaction-related services: including cross-zone and interbank call fees for payment transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, and transfers via electronic machines and bank branches, as well as transfers through the BahtNET system.[No text to translate]Also included are fees for cheque deposits and payments for goods and services, same-day bulk payment system transfer fees, commissions in lieu of exchange rate differences, and electronic channel transfers via BahtNET.[No text to translate][No text to translate]
4. SME loan-related services: including front-end loan usage fees, fees for extending the drawdown period of term loans, renewal fees for revolving credit lines, prepayment fees for term loans, and cancellation fees for credit lines.
Service providers are prohibited from charging additional fees, introducing new fees, or raising interest rates to compensate for revenue lost due to these new regulations, except in cases where increased service costs, promotional period expirations, or changes in customer risk justify such adjustments.
If service providers cannot comply with these standards within the specified timeframe, they must refund customers any excess fees collected from the regulation's effective date. They must also develop and implement a plan to comply fully within the allowed period. These standards are stipulated in BOT Announcement No. 23/2569 regarding service fee and provision standards. The fee adjustments will be phased in from the day after publication in the Royal Gazette through October 2026 to allow providers time to update their systems.
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