Singaporeans and PRs can now open OCBC Malaysia business accounts with Singpass

[SINGAPORE] Singaporeans and permanent residents can now use Singpass to open business accounts with OCBC Malaysia. The new initiative aims to reduce account opening times from three weeks to about five working days.

On Thursday (Jun 11), the bank said that applicants can complete identity authentication digitally as part of the account opening process.

This marks the first use of Singpass beyond Singapore-based services.

Currently, opening business accounts with financial institutions requires manual document submission or an in-person branch visit.

Customers with OCBC business banking accounts in both Singapore and Malaysia can also apply for single sign-on access. This allows them to view their accounts through a single dashboard.

The move comes amid a growing number of Singaporeans and PRs starting businesses in or expanding into Malaysia. 

The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that OCBC Malaysia serves, which have Singaporean or Singapore PR owners, grew at an annual rate of 10 per cent from 2023 to 2025, the lender said.

The strongest momentum has been in the F&B and manufacturing sectors. 

Growth is expected to accelerate with the establishment of the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone.

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Carmen Chan, deputy head of global transaction banking at OCBC, said: “We expect the uptick to continue, following the recent Budget announcement that more support will be extended to SMEs expanding overseas.”

After an application to open an OCBC Malaysian business account is submitted, the requisite Know Your Customer checks will be conducted by the bank.

Entities with a Malaysian director require a digital authentication of the director’s identification, using MyKad – the country’s official identification.