Singapore Expats

Hi,

I am relocating from NY to Singapore and am trying to figure out what bank to use. I currently use Chase, but that does not have a presence here. I will be paid from both the US and Singapore, so I am looking for a bank where I can carry multiple accounts in different currencies, with easy access. I've read a little about Citibank Global Banking and wanted to see if anyone had any experience with them and what were your thoughts.

Any other suggestions are welcomed as well.

Thanks,
Kristen

Citibank is the only easy/low cost option in Singapore that will let you instantly move money between your Singapore and US accounts. They're also about average on forex rates (as opposed to criminally high).

HSBC has a similar option, but you'll need HSBC Premier which requires at least $200,000 SGD in assets with them.

i'm in the middle of setting up the same thing for for the same reason.
i'm moving from St.Louis to Singapore.

My advice is to open the US side account asap.
It's taking a lot longer then i was told and now i'm probably just going to have to wire my initial bundle of money.

Opening the Singapore side was fairly easy. Just need your IPA letter and passport. Took just a few days.

OK, thanks for both responses. I was leaning towards Citibank, so glad it seems like the right choice.

That's what we have and it is painless. You can't always find an ATM for Citibank but you can use the US one anywhere in anything and that is handy. Opening here was painless but check the branch before you go, many don't have facilities beyond giving out cash.

You can use your Citibank SG card in any HSBC, Stanchar, may bank, or ANZ ATM and vice versa. The other local banks only let you use their ATM. Nothing more frustrating than being next to an ocbc and UOB ATM and not being able to get money. I don't understand why they're not all linked and just charge a few. Must be a MAS rule otherwise I'm sure they would have monetized that years ago.

The UK used to be the same. And then for a while it was a charge but I think they realised it was just all a bit stupid.

Upon further experience, I highly recommend not going with Citi.
Took them nearly 2 weeks to open an account and another 2 weeks to I've us access to the money we sent them.
Then there is a $1,000 limit on the global transfers.

We had nothing but problems with them.
They were amazingly bad at their jobs and flat out lied to us 4 times.
All their customer service agents have no idea what is going on.

Stay away.

Which side did you have problems with. I set the US side up in NYC yesterday and it only took about 10 min. I haven't set the Singapore side up yet.

Dert42 wrote: Then there is a $1,000 limit on the global transfers.

I've transfered much more in either direction without much hassle. I'm curious where you had trouble?

I think there may be a $10,000 USD limit without a special form when you transfer from the US -> SG. That would likely be an IRS or Treasury limit too which I'm sure would impact any other bank.

I opened my Citi US account after I was already in SG using a US credit card for the initial deposit. It was pretty painless. I put my parent's mailling address, and they just scanned and emailed me the paperwork and information off the debit card.

We had all the problems with the US side.
If I could of gone into a branch and choked someone, it would of gone a lot better. They have no branches on Missouri.
So we had to do it all by phone.

Ahh, OK, I was able to go to a branch, and they had clearly set this sort of thing up many times. Hope the situation gets better.

Citibank has really good customer service in Singapore.

Been using them for past 4 years, recommend you look at getting an account setup in USA and then get a similar one open in Singapore before you move, the accounts can be linked, monitored and managed from a single website.

What about HSBC? Are they that bad? I use them in the UK and I thought it might be easier to deal with one bank only.

main thing is money transfers.

stuckmojo wrote:What about HSBC? Are they that bad? I use them in the UK and I thought it might be easier to deal with one bank only.

main thing is money transfers.

you will have a hard time finding a branch...