The best banks and cards for Malaysian & Singaporean travellers

Bank/ Account	Country	Card Network	Type	Overseas ATM fees	Foreign Currency Transaction fees	Monthly/ annual fees	Notes
OCBC EasiSave Account	Malaysia	Mastercard	Debit	0 at OCBC ATMs in Singapore, Indonesia, Macau & Hong Kong, RM10 elsewhere	0	RM8 annually for the card
Ambank Basic Savings Account	Malaysia	Mastercard	Debit	RM10	0	RM8 annually
CIMB Bank Regular Savings	Malaysia	Mastercard	Debit	0 at CIMB ATMs in Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand; RM10 elsewhere	1%	RM15 annually for the card
Maybank	Malaysia	Visa	Debit	0 at Maybank ATMs in Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia; RM12 elsewhere	1%	0
Bank Rakyat Credit Card-i Classic	Malaysia	Mastercard	Credit	5%, min. RM21.20 + 1.5% monthly profit rate	0	0	Transactions at non-halal merchants will be declined
Bank Islam creditcard-i Gold	Malaysia	Visa or Mastercard	Credit	3%, min. RM50 + 1.5% monthly profit rate	0	RM130 annually	annual fee can be waived with 12 transactions per year. Accept transactions from “HALAL” merchant only.
Big Pay	Malaysia & Singapore	Visa or Mastercard	Prepaid	RM10 (Malaysia) or 1 per month free (Singapore)	0	0
Wirex Standard	Singapore	Visa	Prepaid	S$400 per month free, then 2%	0	0	interbank exchange rates
Revolut Standard	Singapore	Visa	Prepaid	S$350 per month free	S$5,000 per month free	0	markup on weekends
Crypto.com Midnight Blue	Singapore	Visa	Prepaid	S$200 per month free	S$2000 per month free	0	interbank exchange rate
CIMB Bank StarSaver Account	Singapore	Plus (Visa)	ATM Card	0	1%	0 if you opt out of paper statements	At their regional ATMs in SEA, CIMB uses their own currency rates, without a conversion fee
DBS Multicurrency Account	Singapore	Visa	Debit	0 at DBS ATMs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Indonesia & Westpac (Australia). $7 elsewhere.	0 for 11 major currencies. Other currencies: 3.25%	0 if first account at DBS	they use their own (slightly worse) exchange rates, instead of Visa's
ICBC	Singapore	Unionpay	Credit	5% min. S$15	1.5%	S$30 annually, first three years free

Important! Malaysian and Singaporean banks disable international usage of their cards by default, you have to contact them to enable it, otherwise the card won’t work abroad. This may also apply to internet stores which do not use 3-D Secure.

Recommendations:

For Malaysians OCBC comes out on top.

The Bank Rakyat credit card is the better of the only two credit cards on the market without conversion fees. There are some minor usage restrictions for both concerning merchant codes.

For Singaporeans, the market has gotten competitive with the entry of some new players. The Wirex card seems to best for now.

Sadly, still no good credit cards on offer, ICBC’s is still the lowest at 1.5%.

Term explainer:

Overseas ATM fee: The fee your own bank charges you for withdrawals when you use a foreign ATM abroad.

ATM surcharge rebate: How much of the fee the owner of the foreign ATM may charge you directly your bank will pay back to you. Not all ATMs charge a fee, but if they do it will show up on the screen at some point during the withdrawal process.

Foreign currency transaction fee: The fee your bank charges you for a transaction in a foreign currency. Unless otherwise noted this fee applies to both, ATM withdrawals and POS transactions in a store/ or on the internet.

Spotted a mistake, or know another card that doesn’t charge? Shoot me an email at webmaster [at] nofeesoverseas.com