Application for a License to Operate as an International Money Transfer Agent

Created 2023-08-09

Updated 2023-08-09

2596

The application for a license to operate as an international money transfer agent has specific standards, methods, and conditions as determined by the Bank of Thailand as follows:

The international money transfer agent must qualify and not have the prohibited characteristics as announced by the authority.
- The international money transfer agent must possess at least one of the following qualifications: being a limited company or a public limited company registered in Thailand, with a fully paid-up registered capital of no less than 100 million baht. The shares are held by natural persons of Thai nationality or by legal entities registered in Thailand in a ratio not less than 25% of the total paid-up capital. Furthermore, there must be at least one director with the authority to control or manage who is of Thai nationality and has a domicile in Thailand, or another qualification is to be a state financial institution, a government agency, a state organization, a governmental organization, or a state enterprise.
- Individuals engaging in foreign exchange factor businesses must not have the following prohibited characteristics:
  - Ever been declared bankrupt or insolvent by the court.
  - Ever been sentenced or ordered by the court to forfeit their property to the state or ever been sentenced for committing a money laundering offense under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
  - Ever had their license or business registration relating to foreign exchange factors revoked.
Foreign exchange factor businesses are prohibited from appointing or allowing individuals with the following characteristics to act as a director or a person with management power: being dishonest, incompetent, or quasi-incompetent, ever being finally sentenced to imprisonment for offenses related to forgery and transformation, theft, embezzlement, robbery, fraud, cheating creditors, misappropriation, or receiving stolen goods, whether there is a pending sentence or not, being a director or a person with management power of a foreign exchange factor business that has had its license or registration revoked and holding such position at the time of the revocation, ever being finally sentenced to imprisonment for offenses under the currency exchange control law.
The entity involved in the business of foreign payment factors shall not permit individuals with the following characteristics to be significant shareholders:
- Individuals who have been adjudicated or ordered by the court to have their assets become state property, or have been finally sentenced for money laundering offenses according to the law on the prevention and suppression of money laundering, or have been a person determined to have committed acts of terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, or have been finally sentenced for financial support of terrorism.
- Individuals who have been penalized with imprisonment by a final judgment for offenses under the law on the control of currency exchange.
Must have a reliable network for providing international money transfer services.
Reasons for denial, withdrawal, or non-renewal of the license: The officer may propose an opinion to the Minister of Finance to consider the denial, withdrawal, or non-renewal of the license if the officer suspects or has reason to believe that the applicant, international money transfer representative, person with controlling authority, person with management authority, manager, or person with authority in management has committed the following acts, such as: not complying or violating the law on the control of currency exchange, or the rules, regulations, orders, and announcements issued to implement that law, engaging in actions that pose a risk to the currency exchange system, carrying out operations that are dangerous to the public economically, being a person whom the court has ordered to be under bankruptcy, or being a bankrupt person.
In case the officer wishes to inspect the place of business as stated in the application, the officer and the applicant must mutually agree on the inspection of the place of business as stated in the application. After the officer has notified the applicant via electronic mail or telephone, the applicant must be ready to let the officer inspect. If the applicant is not ready for the officer to inspect within the period specified by the officer, the officer will not consider and will return the application and all related evidence documents.
The petition and related documents: The application and all related documents must be signed by the authorized signatory and stamped (if available). If the related documents are in a language other than Thai or English, they must be translated into Thai or English and be certified by the authorized signatory and stamped (if available).
Filing the application: It can be submitted in person or sent by mail.
If the officials later find that the information and supporting documents are incorrect or inconsistent, the officials may call upon the applicant to clarify the facts. Otherwise, it will be considered that the information provided by the applicant is not substantial enough for permit consideration.
Once the officials have contacted the applicant by mail or electronic mail as specified in the application, it is considered that the applicant has fully received all the messages sent through these channels immediately.
The procedures as outlined in the public manual will start to count the time from when the officials have checked that the application and supporting documents are correct and complete according to the manual.
The Minister of Finance and the Bank of Thailand will complete the consideration within 60 working days from the day the Bank of Thailand receives the complete and correct application and supporting documents.
The Bank of Thailand will notify the applicant of the result of the consideration within 7 days from the date of completion, in accordance with Article 10 of the 2015 Act Facilitating the Consideration of Permits by the Government.