If a company changes from local consulting to cross-border trading, its old bank-onboarding description may no longer explain current activity. Review the actual business and the bank’s relevant information requirements.
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A changed website alone does not reconcile contracts, expected payments and the account profile.
Map the current transaction flow
Identify customers, suppliers, countries, currencies and payment routes. Explain what the company actually supplies and how it earns its margin.
Distinguish the company’s own sales from handling money for someone else. A label such as “consultancy” should not conceal a materially different activity.
Example: payments come from third parties
The customer contract names one entity while payments arrive from another. Keep the commercial explanation and supporting authority. Do not assume an unfamiliar payer is acceptable merely because the invoice is paid.
Prepare a business-profile update pack
- Actual services or goods and delivery process.
- Representative signed contracts and invoices.
- Customer and supplier identity information.
- Expected payment patterns and relevant countries.
- Ownership or management changes.
- Any licensing or regulatory assessment needed.
MAS’s AML guidance explains the customer knowledge and account review controls required of financial institutions. Ask the bank what it needs for the specific changed circumstances.
Check the wider implications
Have advisers review whether the new activity creates tax, licensing or other obligations. An amended business description does not itself authorise regulated activity.
Keep corporate records, accounting classifications and public descriptions accurate. Resolve differences rather than tailoring contradictory explanations for each recipient.
Retain the response and ongoing evidence
Keep the bank’s request, submitted explanation and outcome. Track questions and conditions until addressed.
Review significant future changes through the same process. Do not split or disguise transactions to make activity appear consistent with an obsolete profile.
Does updating the website update the bank automatically?
No. Check the institution’s actual process.
Does a business-profile update guarantee transaction approval?
No. The bank assesses the relevant facts and requirements.
Related banking and corporate records
See our bank authority checklist, payment reconciliation guide and company handover guidance.
Prepare a clearer company banking file
Email [email protected] or WhatsApp +65 8501 7133 for corporate records and accounting support. Tax advisers can assist with transaction questions, and legal advisers from associated law firms can review funding agreements and banking disputes.