Singapore Expats

Hello people!

I hope someone can give me good advice.

Whats the best und cheapest way to send money from Switzerland to Singapore on a montley base. Because salary receiving from Swiss company lands on a Swiss bank account - but working and living in Singapore.

I'm thinking about creating an account at a Singapore bank (which bank? can I do that as a foreigner?).

How about swiss bankers travel cash? Does anybody know? For travelling this is quite good. Little costs and quite good exchange rates.

Does anybody know about internet-banks? paypal and similar? doas that make sence?

Great thanks for good advice and regards!

you can use a foreign exchange broker such as www.xe.com. there are a lot more exchange brokers similar to www.xe.com, so do your own research which is best for you.

you can open a bank account in singapore and get a ATM card. you can do your purchase with the ATM card too, so it is not just for withdrawal.

thanky for your reply! good tip!

is there any singapore bank which is recommended? (no fees for receiving wire, free accoun, free atm card,...)

DBS saving account does it. for free banking, you need to put in a minimum amount. i think there is a charge for swift/iban/bacs money transfer into the account, i am not 100%.

Also try HSBC Premier (if you qualify)...however we'll qualify this...HSBC aren't the best in terms of a number of services, but as a Premier client they do allow fee-free international transfers. In SIN, they also give you a multi-currency savings account with individual account numbers for each currency account.

This ALONE was the main reason we use them - especially with TT's upwards of $SGD20 and $USD15 per transfer in some parts of the world at the moment.

The way to do the Premier thing is get qualified in your COO (Country Of Origin), then they'll open your accounts here before you move (well, that's the theory!!!!) and you pay only the monthly fee in your COO - no other fees.

There are plenty of other options from other banks or wire-transfer services also.


Hope this helps, P&C

HSBC Premier (if you qualify) is good and easy but i find their exchange rate is not as good as some 3rd party money brokers.

hey durain - nice to see you again...

Yeh they actually aren't TOO bad...in comparison to ANZ they are on par. The only better rates we get are through our other overseas bank (which is based in Switzerland) but then we get hit with big fees.

The reason I suggested HSBC Premier is the $0 fee for transfers, as the OP said they wanted to repatriate on a monthly/regular basis so I figured the lower fee option might be good for them. Plus HSBC Premier with the multi-currency account offer the SWF as a currency.


MomRazz - the other thing to consider is how you want to use your money here in SIN. Many places still like the cheque book, but pretty much most supermarkets etc. accept MasterCard Electronic debit cards. There is a wealth of info on all of this - use the search function on this forum - and you'll see how it kind of works.

Hope this helps, P&C