Thai Baht to Singapore Dollar exchange rates aren't all the same.
The total cost you are charged by your bank or foreign exchange provider consists of a margin from the interbank mid-rate plus fees.
These margins and fees vary significantly for International Money Transfers and Travel Money transactions as shown below.
Exchange rates can vary significantly depending on the transaction type (transfer, cash or card), currency pair and amount. The below table shows an example of total costs charged by FX specialists and banks for THB/SGD International Money Transfers. Costs are calculated against the current interbank mid-rate.
When determining the best time to make a foreign exchange transaction, in this case the THB vs SGD, you should pay attention to the recent market trends for both currencies.
Thai Baht (THB)
Recent years have been extremely kind to the baht and 2019 has been no exception. Approaching mid-year, the baht rose to a 6-year high against the US dollar (฿30.66) and to a 10-year high against the Australian dollar (฿21.35), as well as to long-term highs against a host of other major currencies.
The baht is being supported by Thailand’s large current-account surplus and has benefited from speculation that Thai stocks will soon be assigned a larger weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets index, which would result in significant amounts of foreign capital entering Thailand.
The team at TradingEconomics.com is expecting slight baht weakness over the coming year, with June-2020 forecasts for USD/THB and AUD/THB of 32 and 22 respectively.
Singapore Dollar (SGD)
Singapore was added to a US watchlist of suspected currency manipulators in May. Though that means little right now in terms of economic implications, it created some negative sentiment that spurred a rise in USD/SGD to a 6-month high (SGD low) of S$1.384.
Overall, it’s been a mixed 2019 for the Singapore dollar, with small gains (<2 percent) against the euro and Australian dollar, but small losses against the US dollar and pound.
In May, SGD was pressured by data showing core inflation at a 1-year low, by an escalation in US-China trade tensions, and after Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry downgraded 2019 growth forecasts. At 1.2 percent, quarterly growth in the Lion City has slowed to its lowest level in a decade.
All said, the Monetary Authority of Singapore will, at best, keep monetary policy unchanged when it next meets in October (there's a chance it could turn dovish).
Why can't I just get the THB/SGD market rate I see online or in the media?
The mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news. It is actually just the half-way point (hence mid-rate) between
the last rate at which the THB / SGD was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.
All foreign exchange providers charge a fee for providing their service and this fee is usually contained within the exchange rate margin (or difference to the mid-rate).
Some providers such as Transferwise will quote you the mid-rate (or close to) and charge a separate percentage fee.
Getting a good market rate is mainly about timing however the transaction margin
you end up being charged can be considerably reduced by around a few percent (of total amount being exchanged) for
travel money and possibly over 5% to 6% when sending money.
The exact potential savings depends on the currencies being exchanged and the amount you are transferring and if you are willing to shop around.
WorldRemit
Singapore (SGD)
Thailand (THB)