According to the Payment Services Act, electronic money issuers like Wise have to ensure that Singaporean users’ e-wallets have holding and spending limits applied.
For personal accounts:
You can’t hold more than 5,000 SGD in your account by the end of the day.
This includes all the money you hold across all currencies on your Wise balances and Jars.
Money held in Assets doesn't count towards this allowance.
You can’t transfer more than 30,000 SGD equivalent from your Wise balance in a fixed 12 month window, from April 1 to March 31 of the following year.
What counts towards this limit:
Spending on your Wise Card
Transfers to third party bank accounts
Transfers to other Wise accounts
What doesn't count towards this limit:
Sending money from your Wise Account to a bank account designated as your own
Money held in Assets
If you have exceeded the 30,000 SGD equivalent limit, you will not be able to send or spend until April 1 of the next fixed period.
For business accounts:
There are no limits to how much you can send, spend, or hold in your Wise account.
How do I know if I’m a Singapore user?
You are a Singapore user if you've registered with a Singaporean address in your Wise account.
How does Wise calculate my holding balance?
If you’re holding money in currencies other than SGD, we use the mid-market rate to convert all your non-SGD Balances to SGD to determine your total balance in SGD.
For example: You have 4,000 SGD and 1,000 USD, and the exchange rate is 1 USD = 1.35 SGD. This means your USD is 1,350 in SGD. So in total, you’re holding 4,000 + 1,350 = 5,350 SGD. As the holding limit is 5,000 SGD, you'll be 350 SGD over your limit.
How do I remain within the holding limit?
You'll need to set up an external account. This is a bank account, where Wise automatically sends your excess funds to, in case your balance exceeds 5,000 SGD. The external account can be either in SGD or in other currencies; just be aware that if we need to convert your money to send it out, we'll apply our usual fees.
If you don't have an external account set up and you still have excess funds at the end of each day, we’ll have to restrict your account to remain compliant. You won't be able to deposit and receive funds into your account.
You can check if you have an external account set up with Wise by going to My Account > Recipients and selecting the account. If it's set up correctly, it'll say “This is your external account.”
How do I set up an external account?
Log in to the Wise website (this won’t work on the app)
Go to Recipients
Add or select the bank account you’d want to mark as your external account
This account can be in another currency besides SGD, as long as it's yours — but it cannot be your own Wise Account.
Once you've set an external account, you can't change it back or delete it until you've selected a new external account.
My account is restricted
If you weren't able to withdraw your excess funds on time, we'll restrict your Wise account and you won't be able to deposit and receive funds into your account.
If this has happened, please set up your external account so that your excess funds will be automatically transferred out. Alternatively, you may manually transfer the excess funds out by sending out the money from your balance.
Once your excess funds are transferred out, your account restrictions will be lifted.
When your account restrictions are lifted, please remember to manually re-activate your account details so that you can continue receiving incoming payments.