Bank Account

[Brit]

I am moving to Singapore this coming Feb to take up a supervisory position with my current company. As I will be paid locally, I wanted to know how easy it was to go about opening a bank account. Also, are there any recommendations on bank's.

[Brit 2]

We found it really easy to open a current account - we use UOB (United Overseas Bank) which a fellow Brit in our company recommended. We've been very satisfied with their service, very speedy at sending transfers of $$ back to the UK and the US and as it is a major bank in Sing, (one of the big 4, just like those in the UK) there are branches and ATM's all over the island. We actually completed the paperwork to open the a/c at their London branch, just a few hundred yards from Liverpool St station - we took our passports to this branch, signed some papers and they were forwarded to their main branch in Boat Quay (Raffles Place) in Singapore. It was great as the morning after we arrived, we turned up at the main branch and collected our new cheque book and NETS card (to withdraw cash from ATM's and for paying for goods or supermarket shopping - as it is also a debit card). We were given an allowance upon arrival so it was great to be able to have the a/c up and running immediately rather than carry large amounts of cash around, which we hate doing. We had to provide a copy of the job offer to confirm that we were being given an expat posting in Singapore, and were able to use the company address to open the account.

We also applied for a UOB credit card (visa) but generally prefer using Amex for airmiles and for faster replacement/aid in emergencies. I have to say that their website is not too great (http://www.uob.com.sg) but just look under personal banking and current accounts. It is a load of rubbish the part saying to open an a/c that you need to be a Singapore citizen or permanent resident as they have thousands of expat account holders, I think it's an oversight on their website. However, it lists the address and phone no. of their London office (which is really a corporate branch) but they will be able to advise on how to go about setting up a current account.

Hope this helps and Happy Christmas!  

   

[Caroline]

DBS Bank is very good - especially their on-line banking

[Brit 3]

One important point- most banks will require a minimum deposit/balance to start the account.  From what I know you can open an 'i' account with United Overseas Bank with $1000 which includes NETS and cheque book.  DBS accounts ask for $3000, HSBC also similar amount and Citibank asks $5000.
Savings accounts can usually be opened with a smaller minumum deposit/balance of around $500.
If your balance falls below the stated minimum in any of these accounts you usually have to pay a penalty; although at HSBC you can open a savings account with $500 but don't have to maintain this balance, so you can withdraw almost all of it without any penalty.

[Diane]

The problem though with HSBC is that although it is one of the big 4 high street banks in the UK (formerly called Midland Bank) there are very few branches in Singapore and few cashpoints (ATM's) which can be used free of charge. My friend who banked with them in Hong Kong found when she moved to Sing that many shops will not even accept HSBC cheques as it is not a Singapore owned bank! I understand that there are certain restrictions placed on these non-locally owned banks and so they are not quite so convenient in day-to-day banking as the Singapore banks (UOB ,OUB, DBS etc). We banked with UOB and they were excellent, we had our account at their main Raffles Place branch but mostly used the Holland Village branch with no problems whatsoever. Staff are efficient too.  

[DaveT]

I used to have an HSBC account for a long time...no problem with cheques or ATM here (11 outlets).  Maybe its a few specific shops that are not comfortable...

[kaki11]

Despite being a global bank HSBC is appalling at routing British users of Midland or First Direct to take up with their other banks overseas eg HSBC Singapore; so much for synergy and data mining.  I started with POSB but after DBS were "gifted" the bank, DBS' management trashed the service by charging SGD2/month just to have a cheque book before the charge for the cheque book itself - irrespective of minimum balances.  This use of 80/20 type management techniques meant that a lot of small accounts and cheque book accounts were closed but as DBS/POSB has a lot of captive govt. business this doesn't really matter.  UOB is also OK and I have no complaints, while I have moved my cheque account to Standard Chartered.  I also use another bank which has relatively short lunchtime queues. Overall interest rates are low so shopping around for the best interest rate on your current account is pointless as one per cent of diddly squat is still less than a bowl of rice but then it depends how you value your time.