Opening a local business bank account

[okonu]

Yep, FATCA requirements may also kick in, which will make banks nervous.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Especially with non-resident US directors. The bank may or may not allow them to be signatories due to the hassles they fact complying with US Treasury ultimatums.

[BBCWatcher]

FATCA is not really a problem in Singapore (and in most countries) by now. Singapore and the U.S. have an agreement that takes care of that, and the banks in Singapore do what they've already got to do anyway (i.e. make certain reports to the Singaporean government). All the banks mentioned upthread long ago implemented their FATCA-related procedures, essentially just adding a checkbox declaration to application forms, handing out W-9s, and passing that information on to the MAS. They all have Wall Street affiliations that depended on their adoption of those minor procedures. I think Australia has a broadly similar arrangement now, and several other OECD countries are in the next wave. The U.S. was just slightly ahead of the curve, that's all. It's 2016, not 2010. If anything, FATCA -- and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) -- are helpful if the business is genuine, if the U.S. citizen directors are compliant, and if the bank is convinced of those facts.

No, the real roadblock here is basic KYC/genuineness.

As an aside, Uber does plenty of business in Singapore but processes all credit/debit card transactions here through their merchant account in the Netherlands. Maybe they don't even have a bank account in Singapore. They're at least collecting lots of money without one, and they're providing lots of technology services in Singapore. That's all they do, really.