Comparing Personal Accounts at Singapore's Main Banks: Minimum Deposits, Fall-below Fees, Multi-currency and Opening Channels

Personal accounts at Singapore's main banks differ in five main ways: whether an initial deposit is needed at opening, what average balance you must keep each month, how much you are charged if you fall below it, whether foreigners can open online, and whether you can hold foreign currencies in the same account. This page sets these dimensions side by side in three tables and explains why each matters and how to check it.

All figures are taken from banks' public web pages, with check dates given in the source notes for each table. Banks may change them at any time, and their latest publications prevail. The tables are meant to show orders of magnitude and are not a recommendation on which bank to choose: which account suits you depends on your balance, currency needs, route and service requirements.

Table 1: Representative retail accounts at local banks

The table below covers representative personal accounts at DBS Bank and its POSB brand, OCBC and UOB. The interest rules on these accounts (tiered interest based on salary credit, card spend, investments and similar conditions) change frequently and belong to the comparison of savings products, so this page does not list interest rates.

Sources: DBS fall-below fee page and My Account page (checked 24 Oct 2026), Multiplier and New to Singapore pages (checked 23 Oct 2026); OCBC 360 page (checked 24 Oct 2026) and OCBC personal banking fee guide (pricing guide 08/2025, information as at 1 Oct 2025); UOB One page (checked October 2026). "Not stated on the page cited" means the page this site cites does not say, not that the fee or restriction does not exist.

Table 1 explained, row by row

Initial deposit: this is the amount you must deposit when opening, which is separate from the ongoing average balance. DBS My Account and Multiplier state that no initial deposit is required; OCBC 360 and UOB One require S$1,000. To check, look at the "Initial deposit" line on the product page and confirm whether the funds must come from an account in your own name.

Minimum average balance and fall-below fee: banks generally calculate the average of each day's balance in the month (the average daily balance) and charge a monthly fee if it falls below the threshold. DBS states that the average balance on its multi-currency account is calculated by combining all currencies in SGD equivalent. If your everyday balance is only a few hundred dollars, the S$2 to S$5 monthly fees in the table could add up to S$24 to S$60 a year once any waiver period ends, which is worth working out before comparing interest rates.

Waiver conditions: waivers often have a time limit or a condition based on who you are, such as OCBC 360's first-year waiver, UOB One's six-month waiver for online openings, DBS Multiplier's waiver for those aged 29 and under, and DBS My Account's waiver of the paper statement fee if you choose eStatements or are aged 16 and under. Fees apply automatically when a waiver period ends, so note the date when you open.

Early-closure fee: OCBC's personal banking fee guide (pricing guide 08/2025, information as at 1 Oct 2025) states that closing within six months of opening costs S$30 for a Singapore-dollar account and US$20 for a foreign-currency account; the UOB One page likewise states S$30 for closure within six months. People staying only briefly, or opening an account just to receive a one-off payment, should include this cost.

Minimum age and channel for foreigners: this is the row where foreigners most often get stuck. DBS states that foreigners can open an account without an Employment Pass, and that a Student's Pass or an In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter from MOM or ICA is accepted. The OCBC 360 page states that foreigners new to OCBC must visit a branch. UOB One requires applicants to be 18 or older and foreigners and US persons to apply at a branch; UOB also requires a passport with at least six months' validity and does not accept copies or electronic versions. See Three routes and Documents.

Multi-currency: DBS My Account lets you hold 12 foreign currencies (AUD, CAD, CNH, EUR, HKD, JPY, NZD, NOK, GBP, SEK, THB and USD) alongside SGD in a single account, with no minimum balance requirement; other banks mostly require a separate foreign-currency account. Foreign-currency deposits are not covered by SDIC; see Multi-currency accounts.

Table 2: Priority and private banking tiers

Once assets reach a certain size, banks move customers into priority or private banking tiers. The table below summarises the entry criteria published on each bank's website (checked October 2026).

Notes by column: the asset measure differs from bank to bank, and "Total Relationship Balance", "qualifying assets under management" and "investable assets" do not cover exactly the same products; OCBC explicitly counts insurance with surrender value. Fresh funds generally means money newly transferred in from outside the bank, and is a common condition for non-resident remote opening. Accredited Investor is a legal status under the Securities and Futures Act that you must actively opt in to; OCBC Premier Private Client explicitly requires it. The maintenance requirement determines fees if your balance falls: DBS's S$350,000 entry level and S$200,000 member maintenance level are two separate measures, while HSBC's actual charging line of S$180,000 leaves room for market fluctuations. It should be stressed that these thresholds are service tiers set by the banks, not regulatory thresholds; meeting one does not guarantee acceptance, and the bank will still assess due diligence and product suitability. See Priority and private banking thresholds.

Table 3: Choosing an account type

SDIC applies the same rules to all its members; for what is and is not covered, see Deposit insurance. On digital banks, MAS announced the first successful digital bank applicants on 4 December 2020 (digital full banks: the Grab–Singtel consortium and an entity wholly owned by Sea; plus two digital wholesale banks), and the successful applicants would be licensed only after meeting prudential requirements and pre-licensing conditions (MAS media release). Trust Bank in the table is not on that list of successful applicants; this page cites only the deposit insurance statement on its website and makes no judgement on its licence category. Bank-by-bank reviews and eligibility are covered by the English-language sister site bankaccount.com.sg and are not listed here.

How to use the three tables

1. Filter channels by status first: if you hold a pass but not Singpass, or are new to a bank as a foreigner, rule out accounts that can only be opened online and do not accept your status.
2. Then work out fees from your balance: compare your expected average monthly balance against Table 1 and calculate a year's fall-below fees after any waiver ends, plus any early-closure fee.
3. Look at multi-currency only if you need foreign currency: be clear about how often and how much you send and receive in foreign currencies, and remember that foreign-currency deposits are outside deposit insurance.
4. Look at Table 2 when your assets are near a threshold: distinguish the three measures - entry, maintenance and fresh funds - and allow time for more detailed source-of-funds and source-of-wealth checks.
5. Check against the bank's website: open the bank's page again before applying to confirm the figures; fee changes follow the bank's latest publication.

For how fees are calculated, see Account fees; for the opening steps, see Account opening process. If you would like help setting up a comparison for your circumstances, you can register your enquiry through the contact details on this site.