Payoneer Business Account review: Who Should Use it in the Philippines?
Thinking of opening a Payoneer Business Account? Here’s everything Filipino businesses and freelancers need to know about its fees and features.
Choosing the right business checking account in the Philippines isn’t as simple as walking into a branch and picking a plan, especially if you invoice clients abroad, pay overseas suppliers, or need to hold more than just PHP.
Most Philippine business bank checking account options are great for local checks, payroll, and PESONet/InstaPay transfers, but they can feel limiting once you need multiple currencies or faster, cheaper cross-border payments.
Many providers still focus on a handful of major currencies (USD/EUR/GBP), which leaves a gap if your business also deals in AUD, SGD, JPY, or others.
This guide helps you navigate this.
We’ll compare leading banks side by side, so you can quickly weigh initial deposits, ADB (average daily balance), monthly fees, digital tools, and global payment features, then decide what the best business checking account looks like for your company.
We’ll also show how a modern, non-bank alternative like Wise Business can empower your business to make payments, get paid and spend globally in 40+ currencies — useful if you’re a small business that’s starting to go global.
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To understand the importance of a dedicated business checking account, you’ll first need to know the difference between personal and business accounts.
In short, a personal account is built for one person’s everyday spending, while a business checking account is built for a registered business’s money, with extra controls, documentation, and tools that keep operations, tax, and compliance clean.
And here’s why that matters:
➡️Here’s a more in-depth look at why using a personal bank account for business in the Philippines could backfire.
Below is a side-by-side look at well-known bank providers plus a non-bank, multicurrency option (Wise Business).
Provider | Initial deposit | Minimum balance/ADB (average daily balance) | Monthly account fees | Currencies supported | International transfer fees | Notable features |
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BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands) Business Checking² | PHP 10,000 | PHP 10,000 | Not listed (fall-below penalties may apply) | PHP | Service charge PHP 600 per transfer, plus documentary stamp tax of PHP 0.60 for every PHP 200 remitted); third-party charges (correspondent/settlement and beneficiary bank fees) likewise vary and can be borne by the recipient or the sender³ | BizLink corporate platform; PESONet/InstaPay; outward remittance via app/online; gpi status tracking |
UnionBank BizStarter⁴ | PHP 5,000 | PHP 5,000 | None (fall-below penalty of PHP 1,000 if ADB falls below ADB for 2 consecutive months⁵) | PHP | Global Transfer (non-SWIFT): USD 20 per transfer⁵ SWIFT: USD 5 commission + USD 15 cable fee⁵ If “OUR” (sender covers correspondent fees): add correspondent charges by currency⁵: USD: + USD 20 EUR: + USD 20 + EUR 10 JPY: + USD 20 + JPY 2,500 GBP: + USD 20 + GBP 10 AUD (ANZ beneficiary): + USD 20 + AUD 15 AUD (non-ANZ beneficiary): + USD 20 + AUD 25 AUD (beneficiary outside Australia): + USD 20 + AUD 35 Other currencies: + USD 20 (or equivalent) If funded by third-currency notes (including notes deposited to a FCDU, within 30 days): 0.25% of the amount (minimum USD 5) | Online business account opening; “The Portal”; deposit checks in-app; approvals & payments online |
China Bank ChinaCheck Plus⁶ | PHP 5,000 | PHP 5,000 | None (fall-below penalty of PHP 500 if ADB falls below ADB for 2 consecutive months⁷) | PHP | SWIFT available; fees vary by channel/partner and may include correspondent charges (bank directs customers to check per channel)⁸ | Checkbook; monthly statement of account; passbook option on some variants |
Metrobank Business Regular Checking⁹ | PHP 10,000 | PHP 10,000 | None (fall-below penalty of PHP 300 if ADB falls below ADB for 2 consecutive months¹⁰) | PHP | Foreign transfer USD 10 or PHP 500 per transaction; correspondent/beneficiary bank fees may apply¹¹ | Branch opening, business checking with checkbook; wide branch footprint |
RCBC Corporate Regular Savings¹² | PHP 10,000 | PHP 10,000 | None (fall-below penalty of PHP 750 if ADB falls below ADB¹³) | PHP | Foreign outward remittance (via SWIFT)¹³: Over-the-counter (OTC): USD 10 per transfer Online (RCBC Online Corporate “ROC” or RCBC Online Retail “ROR”): USD 8 per transfer Charge type “OUR” (you cover intermediary/recipient bank fees): USD 25 additional¹³ | Corporate checking tiers (Regular/Dragon); online check deposit for RCBC checks below 500k PHP(cut-off applies) |
Wise Business¹⁴ | 1,400 PHP one-time fee to unlock local account details | None | None | Hold 40+ currencies; local account details in 10+ currencies | Transparent, per-currency conversion fee shown upfront starting from 0.57%; conversions always use the mid-market exchange rate | Batch payments; Xero/QuickBooks sync; business cards; fully digital onboarding |
Details accurate at time of research — 18 September 2025
*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.
Finding the best business checking account comes down to
Here’s a quick checklist for Filipino businesses comparing options across banks and modern providers.
Minimum deposits and average daily balance (ADB)
Check both the initial deposit and the required ADB. Falling below ADB typically triggers a monthly penalty.
🎓Quick refresher: ADB is the sum of each day’s end-of-day balance divided by the number of days in the cycle. If you’re frequently near the threshold, choose a small business checking account with lower ADB or flexible fee waivers. |
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Fees (read the fine print)
Digital banking and mobile experience
Ideally, you want multi-user access with clear maker–checker approvals, batch payments for payroll and vendors, and visible cut-off times so value dates aren’t a guess.
Exports should be instant in comma-separated values (CSV), Excel (XLS/XLSX), and Portable Document Format (PDF). Bonus points for in-app approvals, scheduled payments, and, where offered, mobile check deposit.
Global currencies support
If you earn or spend in foreign currencies, confirm you can hold them (often via a Foreign Currency Deposit Unit (FCDU) account) instead of auto-converting to pesos.
Ask how foreign exchange is priced: mid-market rate paired with a small, transparent conversion fee helps you understand exactly how much you are paying upfront for every transaction (as opposed to an exchange rate that actually contains a hidden-exchange rate markup).
For cross-border transfers over the SWIFT network, Global Payments Innovation (gpi) tracking helps, but you should still clarify who covers intermediary and recipient bank fees before you hit send.
Accounting integrations
Close the books without firefighting. Direct feeds into Xero and QuickBooks cut reconciliation time and errors; when a live feed isn’t available, clean CSV exports with payee, invoice/reference, and memo fields keep your ledgers tidy.
Customer support and onboarding
Speed varies by entity: sole proprietors are typically quicker; partnerships, corporations, and One Person Corporations (OPCs) require more time because more people and documents need to be verified. Before you commit, ask about business support hours, a named point of contact, and typical turnaround for everyday requests like adding signatories, changing limits, or issuing cards.
Wise Business keeps costs predictable and straightforward: you see a transparent per-currency fee before you send, and any conversion uses the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden margin.
Compare that with traditional banks, which often quote a headline transfer fee, then recover more through the foreign exchange spread and layered third-party charges that emerge only after the payment is made.
Wise Business also functions as a single, unified platform with features like multi-user access with role-based approvals, batch payouts, real-time payment status, and native syncing to Xero and QuickBooks. In contrast, legacy bank setups tend to be split across separate remittance modules and manual processes with limited user roles, slowing teams down and causing multiple inefficiencies in your workflow.
Ready for more predictable pricing and a cleaner, faster financial workflow?
➡️ Open a Wise Business account and run your global payables with transparent fees |
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Here’s a practical requirements checklist by business type, plus a simple step-by-step account opening guide you can follow¹⁵.
For sole proprietorship accounts:
For partnership accounts:
For domestic corporate accounts:
For foreign corporate accounts:
The following documents authenticated by the Philippine Consul:
Sometimes, especially for sole proprietors and micro/SME products. Many banks let you start online, then finalize at a branch for ID checks and signatures. Partnerships, Corporations, and OPCs are more likely to require in-person KYC for all authorized signatories.
Plan for:
Monthly “maintenance” fees are less common but do exist on some tiers; always check the fine print.
Avoid the currency conversions by collecting payments like a local from your clients, using local account details.
With Wise Business, you get access to 10+ local account details, so overseas clients can pay you via their domestic method — often faster and with fewer third-party fees than traditional cross-border wires. Your client pays you into the account details you provided. The money arrives in your Wise Business account in the currency they sent (e.g., USD, EUR, GBP, etc.).
This way, no foreign currency conversion is needed when the payment is received, so you can avoid incurring expensive conversion fees and unfavorable foreign exchange rates.
Choosing the right business checking account isn’t just about opening the first corporate account you’re offered.
It’s also about:
For local payments, checks, payroll, and PESONet/InstaPay, a peso Philippine business bank checking account from a major provider works great. But if you also send or receive money across borders, then using a modern multicurrency business account that gives you clearer foreign exchange rates and fees, alongside faster collections, and fewer surprises, is the smarter way to go.
Ready to streamline your business finances and save on international transactions?
➡️Open a Wise Business account today.
Sources:
Sources checked on: 18 September 2025
*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.
This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.
We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.
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