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Home > Offshore Company > Offshore Bank Account > Bank in Singapore

Our company offers introduction services for opening corporate bank accounts in Singapore.

If you would like to open a personal offshore bank account, please contact our office.

About the Bank

This bank is the largest financial institution in the combined Singapore-Malaysia market in terms of assets. Currently the bank has over SGD180 billion (USD125 billion) in assets.

The bank was established in 1912. It has a network of more than 480 branches and representative offices in 15 countries and territories including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brunei, Myanmar, Japan, Korea, Australia, UK and USA.

Banking Secrecy and Tax Treaties

Government of Singapore cannot gather information on foreigners' bank accounts, bank-deposit interest and investment gains under domestic tax law. Therefore, the government is not able to provide any bank information to overseas authorities. Moreover, Singapore doesn't tax capital-gains and bank account interest.

Bank secrecy is a matter of national interest for Singapore, as one of the largest offshore financial centers. Anyone who expects to get information about a foreigner with a bank account here will be disappointed. Singapore stands set to defend bank secrecy now and in the future.

This policy attracts investors from around the world. Financial institutions in Singapore manage at least USD300 billion of foreign investments. According to estimations of wealth managers and private bankers this amount is expected to double in the next five years.

Singapore has 60 double tax treaties. There is no signed treaty with US. Those treaties does not include provisions, which require Singaporean authorities to collect and exchange information on foreign investors.

Required Corporate Documents

Our company prepares all required corporate documents in accordance with the bank requirements.

Required Personal Documents

The bank requires the following personal documents from each Beneficial Owner, Director and Signatory:

• A certified copy of the valid passport (pages containing photo, signature and personal details)

• Proof of residential address (original utility bill, bank statement or credit card statement with individual’s name and residential address)

• Brief resume, which includes information about background of the individual, such as education and areas of expertise gained through business or employment.

Passport copies and signatures of the account signatories must be certified by a bank officer.

Personal Visit

Starting from September 1, 2011 all account signatories are required to visit the bank's headquarter in Singapore. They must bring corporate and personal documents. The bank conducts interview and verifies personal documents and signatures of the account signatories.

currencies

The bank opens accounts in the following currencies: SGD, USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, HKD, JPY, CHF and NZD.

Initial Deposit

Initial deposit and minimum balance required as follow:

• SGD account - SG$30,000

• USD account - US$30,000

• EUR account - EUR30,000

• GBP account - GBP30,000

• CAD account - CAD30,000

• AUD account - AUD30,000

• HKD account - HKD180,000

• JPY account - JPY2,000,000

• NZD account - NZD30,000.

The bank charges monthly service fee of $100, if monthly average balance falls below the required minimum balance.

Online Banking

The bank offers advanced online banking including:

• Access to account balances and account transactions

• Transfer money between accounts in the same bank

• International wire transfer payments.

Clients have access to their accounts 24/7.

Debit and Credit Cards

The bank offers Corporate Business Card. This card is a combination of ATM card and MasterCard debit card. The card is connected directly to the business account. Therefore, all payments are debited directly from the business account.

The card provides the following benefits:

• 24/7 cash withdraw from ATMs with the sign PLUS and MasterCard in any country of the world

• Worldwide acceptance for any online or in store purchases

• No security deposit is required.

• You can personalize your card with your company logo and title.

The bank does not offer credit cards for offshore companies.

Time Required

The bank usually opens a corporate account in 1 to 2 business days after receiving completed application forms, corporate and personal documents and verification of clients personal documents and business information. However, the bank always spends considerable time for verification, which may take 2 to 3 weeks. As a result, the bank processes each application in 3 to 4 weeks.

Bank Fees

Bank Account Fees:

• Maintenance fee: FREE if monthly average balance is not less than the minimum balance for the account; otherwise the fall-below monthly fee for each currency account is S$100, US$100, EUR100, GBP 100, CAD100, AUD100, HKD6,500, JPY65,000, NZD100.

• International wire transfer fee

  • Inward payments: SGD10;

  • Outward payments: USD38.

• Cheque book: free of charge

• Internet banking: free of charge

• Bank's fee for opening an account: free of charge.

Corporate Business Card Fees:

• Issue fee: free of charge

• Annual fee: free SGD15

• Cash withdrawal: 3 % of the amount withdrawn (min SGD5, max SGD20).

Feedback of Our Clients

Our company introduces its clients to the bank and constantly monitors clients experience with the bank's services.

The bank's new client acceptance rate is around 85%. About 15% of applications are declined due to inability clients to provide required personal documents or describe and confirm their business activities.

Our clients, who use this bank have extremely high level of satisfaction with the bank's services, when accounts are opened. However, clients are not happy with the bank account opening procedure. The bank is quite slow in processing of account applications.

Our company recommends this bank, if you have business interests, customers, and/or suppliers in South Asia and have sufficient time to wait a decision of the bank on your application.