Banks/Banking in Singapore

Banks in Singapore include 111 commercial banks, 45 banks having representative offices and 49 merchant banks. The commercial banks here take universal banking. The local banks in Singapore are DBS Bank Ltd, Bank of Singapore, United Overseas Bank Ltd and Far Eastern Bank Ltd.

There are 106 foreign commercial banks, out of which full banks are 24, wholesale banks are 35 and offshore banks 47. There are renowned banks having branch offices such as Bangkok Bank Public company ltd, Bank of China, American Express Bank, Bank of America, Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, JP Morgan and Southern Bank.

Banking Sector

The banking in Singapore has in the recent years improved significantly. The full banks that are licensed are ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank and Banque Nationale de Paris. Wholesale Singapore banks include Scotia Bank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Barclays Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Korea Exchange Bank, and many more.

Top banks

The best and top banks in Singapore having maximum customer base are Bank of India, Singapore, ABN AMRO, May Bank, AFC Merchant Bank, Offshore Financial Services, OCBC, The Association of Banks in Singapore, SG Private Banking Asia Pacific, United Overseas Group and Union Europeene de CIC.

Banking in Singapore is simple as there are no exchange restrictions, so bringing or taking currency to any value is convenient. However, all the banks do not offer retail service and hence determining the bank status and the service offered is essential.

The foreign retail banks in Singapore offer savings and current accounts, mortgages and debit or credit cards. The banks are Citibank, Standard Chartered, Maybank, BNP Paribas, RBS Singapore and HSBC. They share ATM system and clients can use an ATM without transaction fees, even if it belongs to other participants.

There are foreign restricted banks that are also full banks, but have restrictions on their services. They are restricted to one location and lack full banking services. Such banks are Bangkok Bank, Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, JP Morgan, Indian Bank, Bank of China, RHB Bank, UCO Bank, and many more.

Singapore international banks that are in the top are Development Bank of Singapore with US $178,375 million total assets in 2008 Dec, United Overseas Bank – US $127,113 million and Oversea – Chinese Banking Corporation – US $126,032 million.