Citibank USA and Citibank IPB increased the AUM for CitiGold from USD100,000 to USD200,000 last year. Citibank Hong Kong also increased the AUM for Citibank Hong Kong CitiGold AUM to HKD1.5 million (RM855,000).

The best selling point about Citibank CitiGold Global Transfer and HSBC Premier Global Transfer is that both are fee free and it is all done in real time (on a banking day). And for HSBC Hong Kong, as a Premier customer you can order foreign currency banknotes online and collect the money at your selected branch. This service is provided free for HSBC Hong Kong Premier customers.

I suppose RM400,000 is high enough already for the Malaysian market.

Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank

That may or may not happen. It is the prime acquisition target over the last few years but they have been doing everything they can to fend off any hostile takeover, and not to repeat the Southern Bank mistake. They might just continue to operate as a standalone bank for decades to come even after the founder in no longer around.

UOB Singapore Privilege Banking starts from SGD350k, not SGD100k. And UOB Singapore allows remote account opening.

The is UOB Singapore Wealth Banking, which is not a Priority Banking account. UOB Wealth Banking is like Maybank Aspire or CIMB Prime Banking. For foreigners who can't show employment pass or do not have a psysical address in Singapore but wish to start a banking relationship with UOB Bank Singapore, they will ask you to open a UOB Privilege Account which require a minimum deposit of SGD350k.

Any idea which bank is still issuing pre-approved credit card to its Priority/Premier Banking customers these days ? As far as I know HSBC now no longer does so. How about other banks such as Standard Chartered Priority Banking, RHB Premier, Citibank Citigold etc. ?

A friend told me HSBC Jalan Ipoh insists income document is a must even for Premier and always have been the standard practice, and there was never such thing as pre-approved Premier credit card. I personally know some people got their Premier credit card without submitting income document a few years back, so I know whatever HSBC Jalan Ipoh told my friend is absolute nonsense!

And yet another HSBC branch said a few years ago they did not require any income document, but now they do. They are however very lenient in approving a Premier credit card though and just an income of RM36k will qualify already.


Very likely the AUM plays a part here. And of course, inconsistency is also an issue like what a few of my friends experienced with HSBC.

It is RM300,000.

Regarding the HSBC Premier credit card, that’s because the bank is required to comply with the RM36k annual income rule from Bank Negara which has been in effect for many years, which for your information, HSBC did not strictly follow until about 3 years ago.

However, as I mentioned, it is all about complying with the RM36k annual income ruling. Many HSBC Premier customers do not seem to be aware of this, it is very likely their RM are either new and still not aware or simply did not know about this, that HSBC is actually still issuing complimentary HSBC Premier World MasterCard to eligible clients without proof of income. All you need is to put at least RM1 million in time deposit with HSBC. Time deposits in another banks don’t count as HSBC is unable to verify the authenticity of the time deposit accounts at another banks.

This post has been edited by MilesAndMore: Jun 10 2019, 02:56 AM

I second the above statements. Just like HSBC Premier, one only needs to be a Standard Chartered Priority Banking customers in one jurisdiction and you will be accorded the same status in your host countries and the same applies to Standard Chartered Priority Private (minimum AUM of RM3,000,000).


Supposedly you only need to qualify for Citibank IPB in either SG or HK with a minimum AUM of USD200,000 and you will be accorded the same Citigold status in both countries.

Just some extra information on Standard Chartered Bank Priority Banking. Just like HSBC Premier, the status is recognised overseas but it’s not automatic like HSBC. Your RM need to write in so they can link your account manually, so you don’t have to fulfil the minimum deposit again to gain SCB Priority Banking status in another country. I found out some SCB RM do not know about this, and have been giving the wrong information to their clients that Standard Chartered do not recognise cross-border Priority Banking status, but in fact they do.

HSBC SG was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp (HK office), but it was locally incorporated in Singapore a few years ago. I think all the full-fledged foreign banks providing retail service in Singapore are all locally incorporated now. But anyway, Singapore is an offshore banking centre. Non-resident clients are all under offshore banking.

There goes the inconsistency of the information provided by Standard Chartered RM. The second part however is correct, that Standard Chartered SGP is to call the shot if they want to admit you as a client. The same goes to HSBC Premier, whilst automatic, it depends on the host country to allow you to open an account.

Citibank Citigold - Citibank Max Yield Account. You need to have an AUM of RM5 Million with Citibank and any balance in your Citibank Max Yield Account will earn 3% flat interest rate.

Used to be very easy even after the 2008 financial crisis until the 1MBD issue blew up. Nowadays you’ll be asked a lot of questions and there are a lot of paperworks too.

Someone I know took 6 months to successfully open a HSBC USA account and that was 2 years ago. 4 months before the HSBC USA account was opened, he flew to US with his son who was about to start his uni life there and both him and his son managed to open a Bank of America account almost on the spot.

Affin Avance is not a Priority/Premier banking product.