The morning I walked into a DBS branch on Shenton Way, I had a folder thick enough to stop a door. Passport. Employment pass. Tenancy agreement. Three months of payslips. A utility bill. The teller looked at the stack, smiled politely, and handed back almost everything. "Just the pass and a phone number, please." Forty minutes later I had a debit card in my hand.
That's Singapore. Hong Kong is different. Tokyo is different again. If you're moving to one of these three cities, the process of getting an account that lets you pay rent, receive salary and move money home is rarely as smooth as the brochures suggest. Here's what I learned the hard way, and what I wish someone had told me before each of three relocations.
Singapore: speed, but read the fine print
Singapore is the easiest of the three for new arrivals, provided you have an Employment Pass or S Pass. DBS, OCBC and UOB all offer accounts that can be opened in branch in under an hour, and an increasing share of the work happens through the Singpass app once you're set up. PayNow, the local instant-transfer system, links to your phone number and is the standard way to split a dinner bill or pay your landlord.
The friction sits with multi-currency accounts and remittance. The big three banks all charge spreads on currency conversion that can run 1% to 1.5% above mid-market. If you send money home regularly, open a Wise or Revolut account on day two. The local fintech YouTrip is excellent for travel cards but less suited to large transfers.
One trap: tax-residency declarations under CRS. You will be asked which jurisdictions you are tax-resident in. If you have just arrived and are not yet a Singapore tax resident, declare your previous country honestly. The bank does not mind, and amending it later is straightforward.
What to bring
- Passport and Employment or S Pass
- Tenancy agreement or hotel address letter
- Singapore mobile number (a prepaid SIM works)
- An employment offer letter if your pass card is delayed
Hong Kong: more paperwork, more patience
HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China are the obvious starting points. HSBC's Premier and Jade tiers will move you through quickly if you meet the deposit thresholds, but for a regular HSBC One account you should expect at least one in-person visit and a wait of a week or more for the account to be fully active.
Bring more than you think you need. Address proof in Hong Kong is taken seriously: a recent utility bill, bank statement or government letter showing your name and current address. A tenancy agreement alone often will not satisfy the requirement. If you are staying in serviced accommodation, ask the property manager for a signed letter on letterhead.
FPS, the local equivalent of PayNow, is well adopted but less universal than its Singapore counterpart. Octopus, the contactless payment card familiar to anyone who has used the MTR, has its own digital app and is worth installing on day one.
For US passport holders, Hong Kong banks ask FATCA-related questions that can slow account opening. Be prepared for additional forms and, in some cases, a phone interview with a compliance officer.
Tokyo: language, seals, and patience
Japan is where expats most often hit a wall. The country runs on relationships and procedure, and banks are no exception. SMBC Trust (Prestia) and Shinsei (now SBI Shinsei) are the two banks most accustomed to non-Japanese-speaking customers, and their English-language services are genuinely usable.
You will need a residence card (zairyu card) and a registered address (juminhyo). Without both, no account. Many branches still ask for an inkan, the personal seal used in lieu of a signature, although signatures are increasingly accepted at expat-friendly banks. Mizuho, MUFG and SMBC all offer accounts to foreigners but the experience varies wildly by branch and by individual staff member.
Salary direct deposit is the moment things get easier: once your employer pays into the account, the bank will treat you with noticeably more flexibility on credit-card applications and online banking activation. Until then, expect to be told no a lot.
For sending money home, Wise works well from Japan but has lower per-transaction limits than from Singapore or Hong Kong. The local Sony Bank is popular with expats for its multi-currency offering and reasonable spreads.
The fintech layer matters
None of the three cities have particularly cheap retail FX. If you are earning in one currency and supporting family in another, layer Wise or Revolut on top of your local account from the start. For larger one-off transfers, a regulated remittance specialist usually beats the bank by 50 to 100 basis points; in Singapore look at Instarem and Wise, in Hong Kong at FairFX or Wise, and in Japan at Sony Bank's outbound service for mid-sized amounts.
Hold one account in each currency you spend in regularly. The friction of converting on every transaction adds up faster than the spread on a single quarterly transfer.
Mistakes I made the first time
I tried to do everything online. In all three cities, online openings exist but they often funnel into a basic tier with lower limits, and upgrading later requires the same documents you would have brought to the branch in the first place. Skip the lure of the digital-first product if you intend to use the account as your primary household account.
I waited too long to open a domestic credit card. In Asia, domestic credit cards earn local rewards (rebates on transit, supermarket discounts, partnerships with airlines) that foreign cards do not. Six months in, you usually qualify for the entry-tier card. Apply at six months and one day.
I left my home-country account dormant. Big mistake. Keep at least one functional account in your home jurisdiction with international transfer access. When something goes wrong with the local one (lost card, frozen for a flagged transaction, incorrect tax declaration), having a known-good fallback saves a half-week of stress.
What to do in the first thirty days
- Open the local account in person, with all documents
- Set up direct deposit with your employer
- Install the local instant-transfer app (PayNow, FPS, Furikomi)
- Open a Wise or Revolut account for FX and remittance
- Photograph and store every immigration and address document securely
- Confirm your tax residency status with HR or a local advisor
What about Hong Kong leaving and Singapore arrivals
If you are moving from Hong Kong to Singapore (a route many of my friends have taken in the last two years), HSBC's regional account programme lets you transfer relationship history across, which speeds approval for credit products in your new city. Standard Chartered offers a similar global view. Use it. The credit card you spent three years building in Hong Kong should not need to start from zero in Singapore.
For Tokyo arrivals from either Hong Kong or Singapore, no such bridge exists. You will start fresh. Plan for it.
One last thing
Banking is the boring infrastructure of an expat life and it will define how easy or how miserable the first six months feel. Take the time to get it right, lean on colleagues who have done it before, and do not assume that what worked in your home country translates. A bit of upfront patience saves a lot of mid-quarter headaches. The folder you bring to the branch on day one is a small investment that pays compound interest for the rest of your time in the city.