There has not been an updated thread discussing the best foreigner-friendly banks in Taiwan. Whenever I search for reviews of a popular bank on this thread (HSBC, Cathay United, Citibank), I find a lot of foreigners sharing their extremely bad experiences with that bank. I am not a US citizen, but I hold a gold card.
I am looking for a bank that offers the following features to foreigners:
A nice online banking interface, preferably in English.
Offers debit card. If it’s easier to get cash back credit cards with an account with that bank then that’s a plus too.
Has USD and NTD accounts.
Not too complicated process for international wire transfers.
Any information about savings accounts would also be very helpful. Would be great to know if there are “high yield savings accounts” where I could just deposit some money every month and forget about it - and that would gain some amount of interest every year.
As a side question, what do most foreigners do here to grow their savings? In the US, a hands-off method to compound your wealth is to just invest in VTSAX or use a roboinvestor. Is there something like that here as well?
I’ve had three accounts in Taiwan, Mega, Cathay and Panhsin, opened in that order. Panhsin I had to open for work, seems foreigner friendly but everything is quite outdated IMO. Cathay is the only account I’ve closed, because I was so frustrated with how they dealt with me as a foreigner. Mega is okay, and its the account I primarily use today. None of them meet your requirements though, so I’d avoid them.
I’ve opened accounts at CTBC and Standard Chartered recently (last month). Both were fairly uncomplicated, but I found CTBC (Gongguan branch) easier than SC (Guting branch) - the latter seemed to be a smaller branch with fewer staff, English was more of a challenge, there were more forms, and the overall process just seemed more…complicated/irritating. Both have useable English apps, a debit card, and a multi-currency account in addition to the NT$ account.
I’ve ended up using CTBC for the most part (convenient for the 7-11 ATMs) and haven’t touched the SC account since I opened it. That’s not necessarily a criticism, it’s mostly just that SC branches seem quite scarce and I haven’t yet bothered to figure out which ATMs I can use.
Also consider the ownership of the bank. HSBC is Hong Kong, CTBC is China. The new LINE virtual bank, while had some Chinese ownership, it isn’t majority. Mega is Taiwan. Standard Chartered is UK… Food for thought.
I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between the different banks in Taiwan to be fair.
Currently I use First bank mostly and their apps are easy enough to use on the mobile , takes a long time to get everything setup. They offer debit card, USD, twd accounts etc.
It’s an ok bank…taixin was similar in my experience , they also offer debit cards. megabank pretty good for stock trading . All the bank’s would have similar systems for fast ATM transfer , local services. I don’t think any will have painless foreign transfer either.
I do foreign exchange online between my accounts with first bank, not fantastic rate but at least it can be done online .
There are no real high interest accounts in Taiwan I believe, very low interest rate here . Sometimes they promote foreign currency high interest but quite risky (currency volatility e.g AUD).
First back does cash back on their visa.
I think Citibank has the best deals for cinema tickets etc. First bank is rubbish for any discounts .
Thanks. How do people grow their savings here? Is it just lying in the bank account getting some negligible interest every year? Is it possible to invest in US stocks/index funds?
FYI, I noticed the Standard Chartered has a decent interest rate close to 1% in the above link…
Some locals invest in etfs , automatic monthly investment into portfolio of local stocks or us stocks I guess , pretty common . Others have life insurance that pays out after 20 years .
You can use any ATM free of charge as long as you keep putting money in your account monthly, I don’t know which account you’ve got but mine requires a minimum of 15,000 NTD deposited to it every month.
For a deposit type account with few usage restrictions, 1% is a pretty decent rate in the current environment (comparable to high yield savings accounts in the US).
On the other hand, I am looking for ~5% growth in the long term, and was wondering if there are investment strategies that could help with that. In the US, it’s expected to get that by just investing in VTI/VTSAX or using a roboinvestor like Wealthfront.
As a non US citizen foreigner living in Taiwan, what are some ways to achieve similar numbers?
Have you used the CTBC app? My Chinese is very good and I still have problems figuring it out, SC has its app and online banking fully in English. I have my stocks account in CTBC, it is a pain to do any transaction especially using their special ID (you cannot use your ARC number). Also their credit card can only be paid at 7-11 not Family Marts or OK marts. I don’t have 7-11 near work or near home and for 2 years I haven’t been able to pay that CC online.
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