Bank of Thailand

Scope

Central bank — monetary policy, payment systems, foreign-exchange regulation (under the Exchange Control Act B.E. 2485), and supervision of commercial banks, finance companies, credit-card companies, and non-bank operators.

Key Powers

• • Set policy interest rate via the Monetary Policy Committee
• • License and supervise commercial banks and finance companies under the Financial Institutions Business Act B.E. 2551 (2008)
• • Administer the Exchange Control Act B.E. 2485 (1942) and issue Notifications governing inward / outward FX
• • Operate the national real-time payments system (BAHTNET) and the PromptPay scheme
• • Issue and circulate banknotes; manage international reserves
• • Impose administrative sanctions on supervised entities

Enforcement Examples

• Periodic FX-control penalty notices for unreported cross-border transfers
• Bank-supervisory enforcement actions (publicly disclosed in the BOT's annual financial-stability report)

How Foreigners Interact

Foreigners typically interact via supervised commercial banks; large inward / outward transfers, foreign-investor account openings (Non-Resident Baht Account), and currency repatriation rules trace to BOT Notifications under the Exchange Control Act.

Related Laws & Topics