| Bank/ Account | Country | Card Network | Type | Overseas ATM fees | Foreign Currency Transaction fees | Monthly/ annual fees | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citibank Basic Savings Account | Malaysia | Mastercard | Debit | 0 at Citibank ATMs (19 countries), RM10 elsewhere | 0 | 0 | |
| OCBC EasiSave Account | Malaysia | Mastercard | Debit | 0 at OCBC ATMs in Singapore, Indonesia, Macau & Hong Kong, RM10 elsewhere | 0 | RM8 annually for the card | |
| Maybank | Malaysia | Visa | Debit | 0 at Maybank ATMs in Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia; RM12 elsewhere | 0 | 0 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 Citibank is probably a slight favourite because it has no annual fee and offers an additional benefit with their worldwide network (not that big anymore after numerous sell offs, but still handy if you travel to the US a lot). If any of the OCBC, CIMB or Maybank countries is a preferred travel destination of yours, I’d consider that instead.
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%.