Man, I spent a good chunk of last month wrestling with these two financial beasts—Airwallex and DBS. Needed to figure out the best way to handle my payments for some cross-border stuff I’ve been doing, mostly between Singapore and the UK. Standard stuff, but those fees can kill ya if you pick wrong.
Starting the Hunt: My Initial Hassle
I started with DBS, naturally. Been using them forever. Got my personal account, and they were the easy pick when I kicked off the business side of things. But every time I made a large transfer to my UK supplier, the exchange rate hit me like a truck. Plus, the wire transfer fees weren’t cheap either. It felt slow, clunky, and honestly, a bit outdated.
I kept tracking those fees. One large payment—around S$50,000—cost me nearly S$500 in combined exchange spread and transfer fees. That’s when I knew I had to shop around. I asked a few folks in my entrepreneur circle, and someone mentioned Airwallex.
Diving into Airwallex: The Setup
Setting up Airwallex was surprisingly straightforward. I was dreading the compliance checks, but their online application was quick. Got the business verified within two days. What immediately grabbed me was the concept of local receiving accounts. I opened accounts for SGD, GBP, and USD right away.
This was a game-changer.
- No more routing through SWIFT every single time.
- My UK supplier could pay into a GBP account that felt local to them.
- When I needed to send funds, I could top up the SGD wallet and convert it internally.
I decided to run a test. I needed to move S$10,000 to my UK account to settle an invoice.
The Practical Test Run: Airwallex vs. DBS
With DBS, I checked the rate that morning. Say, S$1 = £0.580. They charged a flat fee of S$35 for the wire. The total conversion for £5,800 came out, and after factoring in the hidden spread, I lost about 0.8% of the total amount.
With Airwallex, I checked their rate simultaneously. S$1 = £0.585. Already better. I transferred the S$10,000 into the Airwallex wallet. The conversion happened almost instantly. Their advertised fee structure was way clearer—mostly just a tiny markup on the mid-market rate. For that same transfer, my effective cost was under 0.2%. The fee difference alone saved me over S$60 compared to DBS on that S$10,000 transaction.
But the speed was what really sold me. DBS transfers often took 2-3 business days, and sometimes got delayed by correspondent banks. Airwallex sent the payment locally within the UK network (Faster Payments), and the supplier confirmed receipt within a couple of hours.
The Daily Grind: Which Tool Stays?
Now, while Airwallex clearly dominated the cross-currency payments, I’m not dumping DBS entirely—and this is an important part of the reality check.
DBS is still where my payroll runs, where I manage my business credit card, and where I handle local Singapore utilities and big loans. It’s the infrastructure for domestic banking; it’s rock solid and integrated into everything here.
Airwallex is terrible for local banking stuff, obviously. They don’t offer the credit facilities or the deep local integration DBS has. They’re a specialist tool.
I found myself splitting my financial workflow:
- DBS: All domestic Singapore transactions, payroll, corporate loans, and daily local cash management.
- Airwallex: Everything to do with international payments, receiving foreign currency revenue, and managing global supplier payments.
For me, the key difference boiled down to specialization. DBS is the reliable, full-service local bank. Airwallex is the lean, fast, cost-effective currency expert. I run my monthly reports and the savings on conversion and swift fees alone have made the dual setup completely worth the minor hassle of managing two platforms.
If your business involves heavy cross-border transactions, skipping Airwallex for DBS just because it’s familiar is throwing cash out the window. If you just need a standard bank account for local operations, DBS is fine, but you’ll feel the pinch the minute you try to move serious money overseas.
So yeah, I ended up keeping both. DBS for local roots, Airwallex for international wings.