Singapore Fact-File Part 7:
Individual Business Owner Welfare and Lifestyle

7.5 Singapore Individual Business Banking Services

Domestic and international banking services

As might be expected, given Singapore’s status as one of the Asia-Pacific region’s leading lights, many of the banking services that one might expect from a developed country are available.

However, not all banks can provide all types of service; commercial banking licences are divided into full, wholesale (previously ‘restricted’) and offshore, and there are further distinctions made within those categories for foreign and local banks.

Generally speaking, full banks can provide a full range of commercial banking services; foreign full banks are limited as to the number of branches and ATMs that they can have, although a new category of bank launched in the late 1990s, the Qualifying Full Bank permitted those foreign banks granted such licences permission to have up to 25 service locations, of which up to 10 can be branches. A shared ATM network is employed by a number of banking groups in Singapore.

Wholesale banks can conduct many of the same activities as full banks, but they are only permitted to have one main branch, and do not deal with Singapore dollar banking activity.

Offshore banks operate as foreign bank branches, and have limits imposed on the extent of their dealings with Singapore residents, and on their activities in relation to Singapore dollars.

In terms of opening a bank account in Singapore, the following forms of identification are likely to be required:

A copy of the applicant’s passport
A copy of the applicant’s residence permits (only permanent residents or those on working passes are permitted to open bank accounts; a spouse in Singapore on a dependent pass cannot open an account by themselves, although they can be a named party in a joint account);
A recent utility bill (as proof of postal address);
A letter of reference from the applicant’s current employer, where there is one;
A letter of reference and bank statement from the applicant’s current bank.
A minimum initial deposit (the amount of which will vary according to the bank and account type).