Banks arrange billions of baht for Chinese New Year fest
The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has prepared billions of extra baht for the upcoming Chinese New Year festival, said Somboon Chitphentom, assistant governor of BOT’s Banknote Management Group.
He expected the public to spend 27 billion baht for the festival – 3 per cent lower than the previous year.
Bangkok Bank has arranged around 40 billion baht in branches and 10,000 ATMs across the country for the festival. The bank has also reserved notes for the traditional practice of handing out “ang pao” (red envelopes).
Customers can use the service at 15,000 counter spots in 7-Eleven stores, Lotus’s, or ThailandPost’s Bank@Post. There is also an “e-ang pao” service for this new normal situation.
Siam Commercial Bank has 50 billion baht at ready – nearly the same as last year. Some 23 billion has been reserved for customers in Bangkok while the remaining 27 billion is for customers in other provinces. The bank’s ATMs will hold 26 billion baht while bank branches have prepared 24 billion for the occasion, with 5 billion being new banknotes.
Meanwhile, Kasikorn Bank has arranged 41.8 billion baht for the festival from January 29 to February 1. Of this 19.8 billion baht will be reserved for 551 bank branches across the country, 11.7 billion baht exclusively for branches in Bangkok. The remaining 22 billion will go for 8,900 ATMs – 10 billion alone for Bangkok.
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The Thai Credit Retail Bank meanwhile said it had come out with new ang pao envelopes featuring an illustration of a tiger and the Chinese blessing “Fu Gui Ji Xiang” (Be wealthy and have good fortune”).
