What the Bank of Thailand just changed
In June 2026, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) issued Notification No. 23/2569, standardizing bank fees across the entire commercial banking system — four categories, 19 fee items in total, covering deposit accounts, ATM/debit cards, transfers and payments, and SME lending. The BOT's stated reason: fees had become duplicative and disconnected from actual cost. The changes roll out in phases from July through October 2026, giving banks time to update their systems.
The headline rule: banks can't invent a "replacement fee" or bundle in a new charge to make up for revenue lost from the cuts — unless they can show their actual operating costs changed.
For freelancers, a bank account isn't background infrastructure — it's where client payments land, where subcontractors get paid, and where the paper trail for tax season and loan applications comes from. This round of cuts touches all of that directly.
The 4 categories, and what they mean for you
Deposit accounts
- Paper statements covering up to 12 months back are now capped at 100 baht per request; e-statements stay free (effective July 1, 2026).
- Financial certification letters — the ones you need for visas, loans, or corporate client paperwork — are capped at 100 baht per set.
- Dormant accounts no longer carry a maintenance fee, except accounts under 2,000 baht that haven't moved in over a year, capped at 20 baht/month. If you run the "separate account for tax, separate account for your own salary, separate account for a reserve fund" system, check which of those accounts might now qualify.
Cards
- Basic ATM/debit card issuance and annual fees are capped at 150 baht/year and 200 baht/year respectively (effective September 1, 2026).
- Credit card cash advances are capped at 2.5% of the amount withdrawn (effective July 1, 2026).
Transfers and payments — the category that matters most for freelancers
- Cross-branch fees for ATM/CDM/CRM deposits, withdrawals, and transfers are eliminated entirely (September 1, 2026).
- Bahtnet transfers, check deposits, and cross-region merchant payments lose their "interbank line" surcharge, phased in on July 1 and September 1, 2026.
- Electronic Bahtnet transfers are capped at 100 baht per transaction (October 1, 2026).
- Same-day bulk payments are capped at 20 baht per transaction (September 1, 2026) — useful if you pay several subcontractors at once.
- FX commission is capped at 0.125%, waived entirely for same-bank transfers, with an overall ceiling of roughly 300–2,000 baht for individuals and SMEs (October 1, 2026). Good timing if you bill overseas clients and just spent July watching the baht swing between 33 and 34.
SME credit
- Loan origination fees on facilities under 15 million baht are capped at 2.5%, up to 250,000 baht (September 1, 2026).
- Fees for extending a term loan's drawdown period are eliminated.
- Revolving credit renewals are free unless you're asking to increase the limit.
- Early repayment on a term loan is capped at 3% of the remaining balance, and can be waived.
If you've been putting off a loan for new equipment or a revolving line to smooth over a slow month, it's worth waiting to see these terms land before you sign.
What to actually do between now and October
- Switch to e-statements. They're free, and you can pull them straight into your bookkeeping.
- Audit any account you've stopped touching — especially a separate tax-reserve or buffer account that might sit dormant for months.
- Watch your monthly fee line items through October. The changes land on different dates, and banks aren't supposed to backfill with new charges — flag anything odd.
- Reconsider how you receive payment from overseas clients. A cheaper FX commission might make a straight bank transfer more competitive than whatever workaround you've been using.
- Keep statements organized so they're ready to reconcile against invoices at tax time.
Reconciling payments against invoices gets easier when statements are free and importable — freelancers who already run their finances through a system like MANA get the full benefit of this round of cuts without changing much about how they work. The main job now is just knowing what changed, and when.