Are you still paying your business expenses using cheques or bank transfers? If your answer is yes – stop! If you’re an SME owner in Singapore, then you should really make use of corporate credit cards for your business. These corporate credit cards help you rack up points that you can redeem for exclusive rewards. Some of these cards also come with cashback terms designed specifically for business expenses. Of course, there’s a ton of SME credit cards in the market to choose from. Most people get dizzy even thinking about comparing the different benefits each card offers. Don’t worry – with this article, we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you. Read on to find out which SME credit card is best for your needs!
The 12 best SME credit cards for businesses in Singapore, in no particular order:
- Aspire Corporate Credit Card
- Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card
- OCBC Business Debit Card
- Citi Corporate Credit Card
- HSBC World Corporate Credit Card
- DBS World Business
- American Express SIA Business Card
- American Express Corporate Platinum Card
- UOB Regal Business Metal Card
- Maybank Platinum Card
- OCBC Debit Business Card
- Diners Club Business Card
Summary of popular SME credit cards, based on benefit/function:
| Best For | Key Benefits | SME Credit Card |
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Aspire Corporate Card |
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Citi Business Card |
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Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback |
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American Express SIA Business Card |
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UOB Regal Business Metal Card |
#1. Aspire Corporate Card
Click here to apply.
Aspire’s card is actually a debit card, but its benefits are fairly useful so it does deserve a mention amongst other SME credit cards.
Aspire is a digital FinTech startup that’s created a brand new virtual corporate card, designed specifically for business owners in Singapore. The company was founded in 2016 by Andrea Baronchelli. They were frustrated with how few good credit cards that were catered to business owners, so they built their statup to cater to the SME community. Aspire has raised over $30 million in venture capital funding, being part of the new wave of neo-bank startups disrupting the finance industry.
An Aspire corporate card comes with benefits that are very useful for businesses:
- 1% cashback on marketing spend and SaaS software
- 7% fees on foreign exchange
- $0 minimum deposit
- Rapid approval, with virtual credit card issued immediately once your account has been cleared by Aspire
Best for: Startups, E-Commerce businesses, Technology companies, companies that frequently transact foreign currencies
Annual fees: None
Payment processor: Visa
Eligibility: Sign up via Aspire to go through their proprietary checks
#2. Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card
Click here to apply.
Even though the Standard Chartered Unlimited Cashback Card is not branded as a business card per se (it’s actually marketed as a personal card), there’s no stopping you from using it to fund your business activities. Especially with its high and unlimited cashback, the card is just too good to ignore if you’re going to be using credit cards for your business.
Standard Chartered’s Unlimited Cashback Card comes with the following benefits:
- 1.5% cashback on all spend, with no caps
- 5% cashback on all spend in first 3 months of signing up
- Cash on demand (0% interest, one-time processing fee as % of loan from as low as 6%)
Best for: SME owners who have moderate to high business spend, and who need access to quick working capital
Annual fees: $192.60 (incl. GST), waived for first 3 years
Payment processor: Visa
Eligibility: Singaporeans/PRs: $30,000 minimum annual income
Foreigners: $60,000 minimum annual income
#3. OCBC Debit Business Card
Click here to apply.
OCBC’s debit business card comes with a range of useful feature for SME owners:
- 0.5% rebate on all foreign currency spend
- 0.2% rebate on all local currency spend
- No minimum spend, no rebate cap
- Lifetime waiver of card annual fees
- Mobile payments via Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google pay, and more
- Personalise your debit card, free of charge
- Comfortdelgro fare discounts
- Up to 10% off car rentals from Hertz
- Discounts on STClassifieds
- Up to 10% off Business and Economy class flights from Singapore with Emirates
- Free premium membership for 2 years, and up to 30% shipping discounts at MyUS.com (shipping service)
- 2% off non-promotional items at FairPrice online
- 25% off annual insurance plans from Explorer Travel Insurance
Best for: Frequent business travelers
Annual fees: None
Payment processor: Mastercard
Eligibility: OCBC SGD Business Account holder
#4. Citi Business Card
Click here to apply.
OCBC’s debit business card comes with a range of useful feature for SME owners:
- Access up to $100,000 credit line
- Up to 55 days interest-free credit
- Free fraud insurance of up to $1.65 million per company against misuse of corporate credit card by employees
- Free travel insurance of up to $1 million per cardholder
- Double rewards points via Citi Rewards, spend at participating merchants like Amazon, Harvey Norman, etc. ($1 spent = 2 Citi points)
Best for: SME owners who need access to quick and affordable working capital
Annual fees: $160.50 (incl. GST), 1 year fee waiver
Payment processor: Visa
Eligibility: Contact Citi for more information
#5. HSBC World Corporate Card
Click here to apply.
HSBC World Corporate Card key features:
- Up to 3.33% cash rebate on all local and overseas spend (min. spend of $300 per quarter)
- Up to 54 days of interest-free credit
- Earn reward points across multiple cards and employees, consolidated into a single company-level account
- Free travel insurance of up to $500,000 per cardholder
- Up to 3% p.a. interest on the first $50,000 in your Maybank Save Up account
Best for: SME owners looking for good retail and dining rebates
Annual fees: $30 per quarter, waived for first 3 years
Payment processor: Amex
Eligibility: Singaporeans/PRs: $30,000 minimum annual income
Malaysians: $45,000 minimum annual income
Foreigners: $60,000 minimum annual income
#6. DBS World Business Card
Click here to apply.
DBS World Business Card’s key features:
- 2% cash rebate on overseas spend
- 1% cash rebate on local spend: dining, entertainment, and travel
- 3% on other eligible transactions
- Up to 14% discount on petrol at Esso, 15% discount on petrol at SPC
- Free fraud insurance of up to $1.65 million per company against misuse of corporate credit card by employees
- Free travel insurance of up to $1 million per cardholder
- Up to 10 complimentary visits each year to >1,000 airport lounges worldwide
Best for: SME owners looking for good petrol savings and cashback schemes, frequent business travelers
Annual fees: $406.60, 1-year fee waiver
Payment processor: Mastercard
Eligibility: Minimum $80,000 annual income
#7. American Express SIA Business Card
Click here to apply.
Amex SIA Business Card’s key features:
- Up to 8.5 HighFlyer miles per $1 spent with Singapore Airport Group (8.5 HighFlyer miles = approx. 12.75 to 25.5 cents, depending on the flight booked.)
- 1.8 HighFlyer miles on all other local and overseas spend (1.8 HighFlyer miles = approx. 2.7 to 5.4 cents, depending on the flight booked)
- One free night at a hotel per year at Accor hotels, plus up to 50% off dining at Accor hotels throughout Asia
- Up to $1 million complimentary travel insurance
- 5,000 HighFlyer bonus points when you spend $500 with Singapore Airport Group in the first 12 months
- 15,000 HighFlyer bonus points when you spend $10,000 with Singapore Airport Group annually
Best for: Frequent business travelers who enjoy flying SIA
Annual fees: $306
Payment processor: Amex
Eligibility: $60,000 minimum annual income
#8. American Express Platinum Card
Click here to apply.
Amex Platinum Card’s key features:
- 25,000 Amex points when you sign up (worth est. $500)
- Receive 75,000 bonus Amex points (worth est. $1,500) upon spending $20,000 in first 6 months
- Free Omnidesk Pro (worth $840) when you sign up
- $800 travel credits annually ($400 for air fare, $400 for hotels)
- Complimentary access to over 1,200 airport lounges worldwide
- Special rates at luxury hotels worldwide
- Complimentary access to 67 Pall Mall (London) and Tower Club (Singapore)
- Complimentary green fees at premium clubs in Singapore and multiple countries in SEA
- Free all-day weekend parking at Great World City (Friday to Sunday)
- Up to 50% off restaurant bills at selected restaurants in Singapore, including restaurants at 5-star hotels
- Platinum concierge desk available 24/7, 365 days a year. Call for almost all kinds of requests – restaurant reservations, hotel bookings, travel emergency assistance, home assistance, roadside assistance, etc.
Best for: Business owners looking for a high level of luxury benefits, and will spend enough on dining, travel, and entertainment to make the annual fees worth it
Annual fees: $1,712 (GST inclusive) per year
First 2 supplementary cards are free forever
Payment processor: Amex
Eligibility: Minimum $200,000 annual income
#9. UOB Regal Business Metal Card
Click here to apply.
UOB Regal’s key features:
- 2% cash rebate on overseas spend
- 2% cash rebate on all local dining spend
- 5% cash rebate on all local retail spend
- Up to 50% off weekday lunches at Grand Hyatt Singapore
- 4x complimentary green fees (worth $2,200) across 35 golf courses worldwide
- Unlimited access to over 1,000 airport lounges worldwide
- Complimentary Imperial Treasure Club membership (worth $491)
- Complimentary Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Diamond tier membership, providing you access to over 30,000 hotels and vacation rentals worldwide. Comes with suite upgrade benefits and welcome amenities upon check in.
- Complimentary Fraser World Diamond membership. Free hotel stays at selected venues. 25% birthday discount. Free suite upgrades, with early check-in and late check-out.
- Free $500,000 travel insurance for cardholder and family members. Luggage protection of $3,000.
Best for: SME owners looking for solid retail and dining rebates, and attractive hotel discounts. UOB’s SME credit card is also excellent for business owners who travel overseas, whether for work or pleasure.
Annual fees: $680 (GST inclusive)
Payment processor: Mastercard
Eligibility: By invitation only, but you can register your interest.
#10. Maybank Business Platinum Visa Card
Click here to apply.
Maybank key features:
- Complimentary business logo printing
- Access to global concierge services
- Earn Maybank points to redeem rewards
- Worldwide cash withdrawal
- Up to 51 days of interest-free credit
- Credit limits based on company financials, unaffected by personal card limits
- Free travel insurance, up to $1 million coverage. Up to $1,000 luggage loss cover, up to $400 luggage delay cover, up to $400 flight delay cover.
- Free travel insurance of up to $500,000 per cardholder
- Up to 3% p.a. interest on the first $50,000 in your Maybank Save Up account
Best for: SME owners who already have a relationship with Maybank
Annual fees: $180, waived for first 2 years
Payment processor: Visa
Eligibility: Company must be registered with ACRA, with at least one local director. Director must be between 21 and 60 years old. Company must have 2 years of operations, with minimum annual sales of $200,000.
#11. DBS Platinum Business Card
Click here to apply.
DBS Platinum Business Card’s key features:
- Earn 1 DBS point for every $5 spent, and redeem attractive rewards
- Up to 55 days of interest-free credit
- Consolidate all supplier payments into a single company-level account
- Free travel insurance of up to $1 million per cardholder when full airfare is charged to the card
- Free annual coverage against employee misuse of credit card. Up to $25,000 per cardholder, and $1.65 million per company.
Best for: Business owners looking for an SME credit card to distribute to employees, that comes with built-in protection against employee theft/fraud
Annual fees: $192.60 (inclusive of GST), waived for first 1 year
Payment processor: Visa
Eligibility: Minimum income of $30,000 and above per year
#12. Diners Club Corporate Card
Click here to apply.
Diners Club key features:
- Free access to selected members-only airport lounges
- Up to 58 days of interest-free credit
- Overseas cash withdrawal
- Free travel insurance up to selected amount
Best for: SME owners looking for the longest duration of interest-free credit
Annual fees: Contact Diners Club for more information
Payment processor: Visa
Eligibility: Singaporeans/PRs: $30,000 minimum annual income
Provide past 2 years of audited company financial reports
Don’t forget to protect your business
Once you’ve got your credit card all set up, you can use it to purchase business insurance to protect your company. Make sure to protect your business comprehensively against major risks like business lawsuits, employee injuries, fire damage, and more.
Click the links below to get your insurance online, in just 3 mins. Our premiums are amongst the lowest nationwide.
| Coverage | Explanation | Premium |
| Professional Indemnity Insurance | Covers business-related lawsuits | From $42/month |
| Commercial Property Insurance | Covers property damage from fire, explosions, certain types of water damage, etc.
Covers building structure, renovations, fixtures & fittings, equipment, & more. |
From $12/month
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| Public Liability Insurance | Covers lawsuits related to injuries or property damage to third-parties (e.g. members of the public). | From $9/month |
| Work Injury Compensation Insurance (WICA Insurance) | Covers your employees from work-related injuries/sickness, including Covid-19.
Pays up to $45,000 medical expenses per worker. |
From $5/month, per worker |
