Your First Singapore Bank Account: The New Kabayan's Guide to Getting Paid and Sending Money Home
Your salary lands by bank transfer and every padala starts there. Open an account in your own name, set up PayNow, and know the fees before your first payday.
The first week in Singapore comes with a checklist, and near the top sits a bank account. Your employer pays salary by bank transfer, MOM expects it in writing, and every padala home starts from an account with your name on it. Sort it early, before payday arrives and the money has nowhere to land.
Why you need a local account fast
Most employers in Singapore pay salary through GIRO, a direct transfer into a Singapore bank account. For many Work Permit and S Pass holders, MOM requires salary paid into your own account and recorded on an itemised payslip. That paper trail protects you. If a dispute ever reaches MOM, an account in your name and a payslip settle who paid what.
An account also unlocks daily life here. You link it to your phone for PayNow, top up your EZ-Link or SimplyGo for the MRT, pay bills, and send money home without carrying cash to a remittance counter.
What you need to open one
Bring your passport and your work pass card. If your card is not printed yet, your In-Principle Approval letter and your FIN often carry you through the first steps. Some banks ask for an employment letter or a local address, so keep your employer's letter and your dorm or rental address handy.
The three big local banks, DBS or POSB, OCBC, and UOB, all open accounts for pass holders, and POSB runs an account built for Work Permit holders with no minimum balance. Ask your branch which account fits your pass, since a regular account can charge a fall-below fee when your balance dips under the minimum. For a helper or a worker on a tight budget, that fee eats real money.
Watch two things when you sign up. Check the minimum balance and any monthly fee, and confirm the account is in your own name only. Your salary should never route through your employer's account or a shared one.
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Set up PayNow, then compare your padala
Once the account is live, open the banking app and register for PayNow. PayNow ties your account to your mobile number or your NRIC or FIN, so anyone can send you money in seconds and you can pay friends the same way. Splitting rent, receiving a refund, or getting paid back for groceries stops needing cash.
PayNow now reaches past Singapore. Cross-border links let you send money to accounts in the region, and the new PayNow link with the Philippines lets you push a padala straight to a bank account or e-wallet back home, where it is live, with fees lower than a walk-in counter. Check inside your banking app to see if your bank has switched it on.
Some kabayan also keep a multi-currency wallet like Wise or YouTrip beside the bank account, handy for travel and sometimes for a sharper rate, though your salary still needs to land in the bank account MOM sees.
Even so, compare each payday. Remittance houses along Lucky Plaza, app-based services, and your bank each set the exchange rate and the fee at a different level. On a strong Singapore dollar month, a few cents per peso across a S$1,000 padala adds up to a dinner out back home. Send a small test amount the first time through any new channel, then scale up once it lands clean.
Do this in your first weeks
Open an account in your own name, pick one with no minimum balance if your pass allows it, and register for PayNow the same day. Save your payslip every month, and never share your OTP or card PIN, not with a caller, not with a friend, not with an agent. And when your contract ends and you leave for good, close the account or clear it, so no dormant-account fee nibbles at the balance while you are away.
The account is the foundation of your money life here. Build it right in the first weeks, and paydays and padala both run smoother from then on.
