Yifeng Bank, the first digital bank for young people.

An introduction article,

iFASTGlobalBank, the first digital bank for young people

Preface#

Author's note:

Opening a bank account is not about quantity, but about reasonableness and providing genuine materials to transfer funds legally.

Reasons for opening an account#

Different people have different opinions. However, it is undeniable that having an overseas bank account is undoubtedly a very necessary and convenient thing in the current trend of globalization. The interconnectivity between overseas banks is good, and financial regulations are relatively advanced. For friends who have a demand for overseas investment development or travel consumption, its importance is self-evident.

To get to the point, let's introduce iFASTGlobalBank.

Bank advantages#

Convenient account opening#

Supports Mainland Chinese residents to open accounts using ID cards or passports.

Friends who have opened other overseas accounts should have experience, most foreign banks only support account opening with a passport. If you are a non-resident of the application region or restricted by policies, you will also be required to provide proof of address in the applying country, which is very troublesome.

iFASTGlobalBank supports account opening with a Mainland Chinese address. Although proof of address is also required, the methods of obtaining it are undoubtedly much simpler. The simplest way is to use the credit card bill from China Merchants Bank, the authenticity and accessibility of the materials are very high.

Stable accounts#

Thanks to the high tolerance for materials during account opening, iFASTGlobalBank accounts have almost no risk of closure unless there are high-risk transfers or fund inflows.

Chinese language support#

Both the website and customer service support Chinese. When your account is restricted or you need to communicate material issues via email, you will know how thoughtful Chinese support is (the deepest experience is actually telephone communication, but because international long-distance calls are expensive, few people choose telephone communication).

Friends with good English proficiency can ignore this point.

High cost-effectiveness#

No annual fees, no monthly fee plans, no account opening fees, no minimum deposit requirements.

Global iFAST accounts can be transferred between each other without any transaction fees and are almost instantly credited.

Convenient to use#

The development of the app deserves special praise, emphasizing smoothness and lightness (Wise's app is also very good, the apps of these two banks are really easy to use).

Account opening provides IBAN codes and Swift codes directly.

A wide range of currencies are supported, including GBP, USD, EUR, SGD, HKD, and CNY, for cross-border remittances via SWIFT.

Account opening process#

Sorry, I didn't record it this time. Let me share a video with you. If you don't like the video I recommend, you can find plenty on YouTube.

iFAST Global Bank, the first legitimate British digital bank that accepts Chinese residents to open accounts, detailed account opening tutorial

Note: Recently, there have been a lot of account opening applications, and the review process takes a long time. When I consulted the customer service, they told me that it would take 5-8 weeks. In reality, I received the successful account opening email on the last working day of the second week.

Some practical experiences#

Panda Remittance for small amounts credited within seconds (5 minutes)
Wise transfers credited instantly

Conclusion#

The current biggest drawback is the lack of a physical card, which is currently unresolved in terms of consumption. However, iFASTGlobalBank plans to launch a debit card around January next year, but the specific date has not been determined. At least there is something to look forward to.