What Thai baht actually arrives in Thailand when someone sends Australian dollars, at the live mid-market rate. We explain the process; we never recommend a provider.
| They send (AUD) | You receive at mid-market (THB) |
|---|---|
| 500 AUD | 11,705 THB |
| 1,000 AUD | 23,409 THB |
| 2,000 AUD | 46,818 THB |
| 5,000 AUD | 117,045 THB |
Mid-market equivalents, not transfer quotes - the sender’s provider deducts its margin and any fees before the money reaches you. STRUCK 11:00 AEST · TUE 13 OCT.
The only Southeast Asian nation never colonised by a European power, Thailand runs on street-food woks, golden temples and a coastline that turned the beach holiday into an art form.
Five horizontal bands of red, white, blue, white and red, the deep blue centre band twice the width of the others, in a flag six parts wide to nine long. The Flag Act prescribes those proportions and colours; the reading of the three colours as nation, religion and monarchy is the traditional one attached to the design rather than a meaning the Act assigns.
A continent pretending to be a country - Australia is the only nation that fills an entire continent, with most of its 27 million people clinging to the coast while the red-dirt interior does its own thing.
A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross at the fly. Six of the big star's points stand for the states and the seventh for the territories; the Southern Cross marks Australia's place in the southern sky.
Australians retiring to or wintering in Thailand make this a living-expenses corridor as much as a remittance one, with recurring monthly transfers rather than one-off sends. On a repeating transfer the rate margin compounds in a way a single flat fee does not.
The exchange rate is set on the sending side - by the service the sender chooses in Australia - so the most useful thing a receiver can do happens before the transfer: share the live mid-market rate on this page so the sender can judge the margin in their quote. How the money arrives in Thailand determines any local receiving charges - bank-to-bank transfers can pass through intermediary banks that deduct handling fees.
Sending rather than receiving? The sender’s view of this corridor covers the same rate from the other side. The AUD/THB converter page handles any amount. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
PromptPay links a Thai bank account to a citizen identification number or a mobile phone number, and the Bank of Thailand notes that one phone number can be registered against only one account, so somebody with two accounts commonly puts the identification number on one and the phone number on the other. Inside Thailand that alias is how money moves.
The Bank of Thailand's own table of cross-border linkages shows how far the alias reaches. Ten economies are connected. Nine of those links are quick-response code payments made at merchants, and Singapore is the single one carrying a remittance addressed to a mobile number, live since 29 April 2021, with the Bank stating at launch that a sender there supplies only the recipient's number and needs no account details or full name. Everyone else sends to a Thai bank account number, and the recipient supplies that rather than the phone number the alias would have used.
At the counter, foreign currency brings a notification duty with it. The Bank of Thailand requires anybody buying, selling, depositing or withdrawing foreign currency with an authorised bank to notify the details of that transaction to the bank, and the bank must request supporting documents from two hundred thousand US dollars upwards unless it has already completed its checks on that customer. A resident may otherwise hold what arrives in a foreign currency deposit account without limit.
Sources: Bank of Thailand, PromptPay · Bank of Thailand, cross-border payment linkages · Bank of Thailand, Thailand and Singapore launch the first linkage of real-time payment systems, 29 April 2021 · Bank of Thailand, exchange control regulation
How much Thai baht will I receive in Thailand?
A little less than the mid-market figures above. The service the sender uses in Australia sets the rate and fees; local receiving banks in Thailand can also apply their own charges depending on how the transfer arrives.
The sender asked for my details - what will they need?
Whatever their transfer service asks for on the receiving side - typically your full legal name and local bank account details in Thailand. Give the name exactly as your bank records it; mismatches are the most common reason a transfer is delayed.
Why did I receive less than the rate on this page suggests?
No retail provider transacts at the mid-market rate - it is the midpoint of the wholesale market. What separates it from a quoted rate is margin, and margin is normally a larger cost than any advertised fee. On a bank-to-bank transfer an intermediary bank can also deduct a handling charge in transit.