I have a BVI corporation and decided opening a bank account for it in Singapore. The two main banks there are OCBC and DBS. The later was nominated best SMB bank in the world last year, but both have an excellent reputation. As most readers in this forum know, opening accounts in reputable banks for classic offshore corporations is no trivial task.
The process, however, was quite straightforward. At OCBC it was handled manually, as an account opening officer was assigned to me and asked for the company docs and basic information. At DBS, you only have to fill out a standard form and schedule an appointment to bring your documentation at one of their branches in Singapore. The OCBC process, although more cumbersome, gave me a little more peace of mind as they vetted my business prior to my visit.
It's mandatory for any bank in Singapore to request a visit from the company director(s) for account opening. On exceptional occasions it might be done at one of their branches abroad, but you definitely must show up in person. So in early October I flew to Singapore.
The visit to each bank took about 2 hours, where they checked the original documents and asked about my business, who were my suppliers and clients, how long it had been in operation, and so on. They really try to understand your operation so you'd better be prepared and have direct answers.
Lots of signed papers after, and a few more documents they asked to send over email, I flew back home with the promise that they'd call me in up to 30 days with the outcome of my application. Today (17 days after I left Singapore), OCBC has called me and the result was positive. The account is opened. I should be hearing back from DBS soon and will update the thread accordingly.
In terms of what they offer, apart from their pristine reputation and ultra-stable jurisdiction, it's actually not so great. Both banks offer the possibility of multi-currency accounts (SGD, USD, EUR, etc.). At OCBC, you must keep a minimum balance of 30k for each currency you want to keep. So USD30k if you have a dollar balance, plus EUR30k if you are holding euro, and so on. The maintenance fee is SGD50 per month.
DBS has a much more competitive offer, as you must keep the equivalent of USD10k across all balances. So USD5k + EUR5k would be enough. The maintenance fee is only SGD40 per year.
Regardless, the big disadvantage is that both banks (and to my knowledge, all banks in Singapore) only have SGD denominated debit cards. If you aren't using SGD, there's no way to move your money other than wires. And wires are cumbersome, slow and expensive.
All in all, for me it'll be worth keeping either account as a backup in case my main account is ever closed. However, for day to day operations, the lack of a proper debit or credit card solution is a show stopper.
The process, however, was quite straightforward. At OCBC it was handled manually, as an account opening officer was assigned to me and asked for the company docs and basic information. At DBS, you only have to fill out a standard form and schedule an appointment to bring your documentation at one of their branches in Singapore. The OCBC process, although more cumbersome, gave me a little more peace of mind as they vetted my business prior to my visit.
It's mandatory for any bank in Singapore to request a visit from the company director(s) for account opening. On exceptional occasions it might be done at one of their branches abroad, but you definitely must show up in person. So in early October I flew to Singapore.
The visit to each bank took about 2 hours, where they checked the original documents and asked about my business, who were my suppliers and clients, how long it had been in operation, and so on. They really try to understand your operation so you'd better be prepared and have direct answers.
Lots of signed papers after, and a few more documents they asked to send over email, I flew back home with the promise that they'd call me in up to 30 days with the outcome of my application. Today (17 days after I left Singapore), OCBC has called me and the result was positive. The account is opened. I should be hearing back from DBS soon and will update the thread accordingly.
In terms of what they offer, apart from their pristine reputation and ultra-stable jurisdiction, it's actually not so great. Both banks offer the possibility of multi-currency accounts (SGD, USD, EUR, etc.). At OCBC, you must keep a minimum balance of 30k for each currency you want to keep. So USD30k if you have a dollar balance, plus EUR30k if you are holding euro, and so on. The maintenance fee is SGD50 per month.
DBS has a much more competitive offer, as you must keep the equivalent of USD10k across all balances. So USD5k + EUR5k would be enough. The maintenance fee is only SGD40 per year.
Regardless, the big disadvantage is that both banks (and to my knowledge, all banks in Singapore) only have SGD denominated debit cards. If you aren't using SGD, there's no way to move your money other than wires. And wires are cumbersome, slow and expensive.
All in all, for me it'll be worth keeping either account as a backup in case my main account is ever closed. However, for day to day operations, the lack of a proper debit or credit card solution is a show stopper.
