Complete Help guide to Opening A Banking account In Singapore For Foreigners

As a foreigner who just arrived in Singapore to work, study or live, many reasons exist why opening a nearby bank account should be your first things to check off your to-do list.

You'll need a local banking account to receive your salary (either via direct transfer or banking in your cheque), make use of ATMs islandwide to withdraw cash, as well as being in a position to send and get money in Singapore.

If you want to invest or trade, you'll also require a local banking account to make settlements and fund your trades. Paying of insurance premiums or bills is another important use case.

As we've also covered previously, certain high-interest savings accounts are also ideal for earning risk-free interest on cash that you still want access immediately to.

What Do Foreigners Need To Qualify For A Banking account In Singapore?

Due to increasingly tight Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws in Singapore, procedures and criteria for opening a nearby bank account has become tighter over the years.

To open a bank account, you'll either have to 1) Show proof of your residence in Singapore or 2) Justify your requirement for a local bank account.

Recognised proof of residence in Singapore features a valid employment pass, dependant pass, or student visa. This proves that you have a legal basis for residing in Singapore and for requiring a nearby banking account. If you're in the middle of securing these documents, letters of offer from a company or school might be taken in the bank's discretion.

There are great explanations why you may not fulfil the evidence of residence in Singapore criteria, but nonetheless would really like a local banking account. Perhaps you are a regional manager who's stationed in Singapore for a few months every year, or you possess a local company subsidiary.

For those cases, you will need to produce supporting documents to justify your requirement for a nearby bank account. This can be a company letter stating the nature of the job, or ACRA documents showing your directorship inside a company, or any other documentation based on your specific situation. You can speak to a bank staff and obtain advice on the specifics of what you need.

I Know I Qualify. How you can Open A Banking account In Singapore?

If you know you fulfil the above guidelines, you can visit the bank of the choice's website or branch to discover do you know the exact documents and initial deposit amounts they require, before taking to the branch to spread out your bank account.

Here's an example of the documents required for foreigners employed in Singapore to spread out a DBS bank account.

1) Passport; and

2) Proof of Employment: Employment pass/In Principal Approval (IPA) issued by Secretary of state for Manpower*; and

3) Evidence of Residential Address: Latest copy (last A few months) associated with a products below:

– In Principal Approval (IPA) from Ministry of Manpower*

– Visa of foreign domestic worker (domestic helper) from Secretary of state for Manpower

– Letter of offer

– Letter of employment

– Latest payslip

– Power company bill

– Local telecommunication bill

– Local bank statement/credit card statement

– Letter issued by government of other public bodies regulated for AML practices inside a FATF member country

– Letter from regulated insurance providers in a FATF member country

– Letter from school (limited to official letters from educational facilities or schools underneath the purview of Council web hosting Education or Ministry of Education)

* The IPA are only able to be employed to fulfil either the Proof of Employment or Proof of Residential Address criteria, not both.

For students, the Proof of Employment portion is replaced by Matriculation card/Student card/In-Principle Approval by ICA. If you're here on a dependants' pass, you will need your spouse's Proof of Employment as well as your Proof of Relationship.

Alternative: Opening A Local Bank Account Having a Foreign Bank

Singapore is home to a lot of foreign banks, most of which have full banking licenses and offer bank accounts in Singapore. If you are already a client in your home country, you could think about the criteria for opening a nearby bank account with the Singapore branch.

However, note that the factors wouldn't necessarily be more lax. Actually, most banks' international banking services don't come cheap and could simply be open to individuals with huge deposits.

You may be best just evaluating the various banks in Singapore and selecting the one which gives you the very best benefits, for example interest rates, valued-added services, and ATM network.