Is this the email to CIMB Singapore? : AtYourService@cimb.com

I emailed them 2 days ady but no reply. Maybe I expect fast reply from Singapore side

Wait la. Weekend where got people working? Check spam folder.

My recent experience in Singapore banking - I opened a HSBC offshore account from the Orchard road branch quite easily though they did take about a week or so after sending them the required documents. Oddly enough, they did not want to open a local account for me even though I have a personalized employment pass in Singapore which I am not currently using as they wanted a rental contract as proof of address (friend's address on pass not enough apparently).

Their service has been pretty good so far. They responded very quickly to my initial funding from IB and they were very nice and polite at the branch (HUGE change in attitude from HSBC Malaysia).

Who’s the account with in that case - HSBC Singapore or HSBC International / Expat?

HSBC Singapore.

When I finally went to close my foreign currency accounts in the premier centre at the Leboh Ampang branch day before yesterday after transferring all the balances to other HSBC foreign currency accounts in HK/Singapore, I got a lot of attitude from the relationship manager who apparently thought that getting me to open an account with fees and lack of basic services like depositing checks in foreign currency, foreign currency cash withdrawals was a major favor rather than clearly unprofessional when he should have known that the foreign currency accounts elsewhere have all that without fees. Even though I tried to just keep it business like and just close the account and get a refund of the fees, I got all snort of snarky statements about please go to Singapore for every transaction, did you need to fly here when I asked why I was being served after many others who came in before me etc. accompanied by what I call the "Malaysian bank employee" sneer. Again, all this is similar to other's experiences in Malaysia and so different from banking in the US/Singapore/HK etc. even without any sort of premier status, leave alone the highly professional service I receive from IB or TD Ameritrade. OCBC Malaysia seems an exception (no trademark sneer there unlike Maybank, CIMB etc.) and their foreign currency account does accept cheque deposit so maybe there is hope to get okay local banking experiences and maybe my wife might even be able to open a local account here (gave up after trying 6 banks as she couldn't take the aggravation and insults - again a big contrast from the US where they used to call her and plead to open accounts with free bonus money etc.).

I have to wonder if they specially recruit people without manners or specifically train them to be rude in the Malaysian banks here. I understand that the pay etc. is crap here but even the mamak shop employees who are paid even less seem to be able to behave quite pleasantly and reasonably. The govt employees here have been amazingly pleasant and helpful too and people here are also socially nice so there is something definitely odd about the whole bank employee culture here.

Having it based in Singapore is logical - as I’m assuming you can fund IB now viable FAST rather than international TT and save some fees that way. Their SGD > USD spread is nearly nothing too.

Yeah HSBC Malaysia service (or other local banks) isn’t the best!

if i put money in sg or other country is it traceable by gov?

why you not maintain hsbc premier here and then open premier at sg and hk ? then you dun need to close acct here and also lower maintenance.

Of course. When you transfer money via banks, it create a paper trail. Unless you use cash.

especially if both government have tax treaty.

Just sharing since i'm looking to open an SG account.
2018 version here: http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/pdf/deposits-...n-Form-mbmy.pdf

Sourced from: http://info.maybank2u.com.sg/personal/depo...gs-account.aspx
Search for "Singapore Dollar iSAVvy Savings Account Application Form for Maybank Malaysia customers" in the above page

Actually, I am maintaining the premier status here now with the MM2H fixed deposit which is getting really low interest compared to other banks but which I cant move as it is not allowed to do so. (I opened it in HSBC since I could do it from HK and HSBC was my main bank in HK). HSBC Malaysia is indeed a good place to maintain the premier status and since I have to have 300k in HSBC and no ability to move it, I at least get that in return. The HSBC credit cards are pretty good too (especially the premier travel one with loungekey access).

Their personal service really sucks though. I can understand occasional gruff and rude behavior due to stress etc. but the staff seem to go out of their way to humiliate and abuse you. My guess it is based on nationality from the observations of an Australian friend of Indian origin. He spent most of his life in India and is culturally very Indian and whenever he tried to open an account here, he would get very rude treatment until he brought out his Australian passport! Judging people based on nationality which they largely have little control over is really low class behavior. And I have had colleagues and bosses from the US, Bangladesh, Japan, China, HK, Italy, UK, Sweden, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Morocco, Romania, India, Belgium, Malaysia etc. etc. (many more countries in fact but takes too long to list them all) and I have never found any correlation between nationality and good behavior or niceness and helpfulness.

Ringgit strengthened. Still got people interested to open account?

I don’t think ringgit strengthened though. It’s more like usd weaken in my opinion

Errmm,... no,... If you look closely, the RM strengthened vs the SGD, AUD and JPY too,.... hence, the RM is strengthening too.

Yes, I would still say try to open account in SG. Now is the perfect time to convert over,....In fact, if have opened earlier,... it would have been even better,....

Anyone opened an account from cimb

https://www.cimbbank.com.sg/en/personal/pro...er-account.html

Of course. Cimb fast saver is good place to park money since they offer no huddle to get 1%. However it's a pretty useless bank in SG as it can't perform EPS payment.

It said that:
Minimum Initial Deposit

S$1,000
For single account:
Log into your other bank’s internet banking service and add the new CIMB account as a favourite payee.
Transfer funds via FAST from your individual account to the CIMB account.


However, need to be from bank in Singapore only?

Can open but in order to activate that account, you need to transfer SGD1k from another sg bank account into your new SG bank account.

Should you fail to do that, your Cimb fast saver will auto close within 30 days.

Eh, you can transfer to my RM acc, i transfer you from SG to your new account? win -win