So you have signed up for our virtual office, great.

You have registered your company with ACRA, awesome.

There is just this one little painful administrative thing to do before you are up and good to go!

 

Yes, as the title suggests, starting up a corporate bank account. It is as if personal banking isn’t complicated enough, corporate banking makes it even more complicated with the different types of accounts and fees out there.  You will realize that all the transactions you have been doing for free under personal banking are now chargeable with corporate banking. There are many tiers of corporate banking accounts with the mid to high tiers with lower transaction fees but higher account balances, so today we are just dealing with basic starter accounts for startups.

For your convenience, I have combed all the starter accounts from a couple of popular banks and summarized all their key features into a simple table for your easy digestion.

Each appears to have its own strength but there are a few factors  to consider which will really determine which account makes more sense for you.

Fall below fee – If you are unable to maintain a certain balance in the bank account, it would be better to consider banks that do not have the fall below fee.

Transaction volume and account fees – The banks have each structured their fees in such a way that they will grab your money either as annual /fall below fees and if not higher per transaction fees. So it will be good to have a forecast of how many transactions you will probably have per month so you can gauge if it is more worthwhile paying for account fees or transaction fees.

Security token – DBS wins hands down. Unlike personal banking there you just use SMS OTP to approve and confirm transactions, corporate accounts are much more stringent(and secured) and require mandatory usage of the security token for every transaction. For the other 3 banks, it means bringing the physical token around everywhere you go if you want to bank on the move and there is a possibility that the token battery might go flat and that you need to go through the hassle of a replacement.

Application process

DBS used to be the only one which had online application but the other banks have caught up so it is a combination of filling up the application online and going to the banks physically to finish up the process.

You will need authorization and signatory matrix before the application process. Limited to one or more of the following

  • Only one signatory
  • Any two signatory
  • One fixed and any other number of other signatory
  • Dividing into 2 groups and any one signatory from each group

The documents needed generally are different for different incorporated entity types but it is always better to bring more than less.

  • Printed and completed application forms
  • Board resolution (either company’s or the banks provide a copy which you can sign off)
  • Certified true copy of Memorandum & Articles of Association (M&A) for Pte. Ltd. only
  • Certified true copies of NRIC/passport of all authorised signatories/partners/office bearers
  • Minimum deposit in cash or cheque

It generally takes at least 2 weeks to get your bank account started so be patient! Once it is all done, you are ready to rock and roll!!! Woohoo!!