A guide to new world of banking and finance – direct banks, international transfers, mobile wallets, crypto exchanges, and other online investing platforms
I often grumble about the high fees associated with international banking when travelling abroad (especially with Australian banks), so I’ve been looking around at banking alternatives.
Changing bank accounts is not something do very often – once every few years on average. Having researched what is now available I’ve got to say I’m excited about the digital banking revolution that is sweeping the financial sector.
No doubt the incumbent banks have relied on the inertia of customers like me to not bother moving accounts. I’ve had an account of one variety or another with the same Australian bank I had at high school, mainly because the alternatives weren’t much better. With new banking alternatives available, I’m ready for change.
Every traveller, digital nomad, expat – anyone who travels – should also be reassessing their current banking set-up.
One of the most promising developments for frequent travellers is the rise of direct banks.
A direct bank (AKA virtual banks, digital banks, mobile banks, or internet-only banks) is a bank without any branch network. Instead, account applications and transactions are done online. Many of these banks only operate on mobile, so a smartphone is required.
These “challenger banks” are disrupting the mainstream financial world, providing a genuine alternative to banking as we know it. They are differentiating themselves by offering no ATM fees abroad, real exchange rates, and lower international fees on transfers and purchases.
And to make things more interesting, some of these direct banks are now offering accounts that hold fiat and cryptocurrency. We are living in a time that is seeing a transformation of how we bank.
This article is focussing on what are the best direct banks, mobile wallets, and other innovative financial products beyond the familiar accounts. I’ve left out traditional banks, even though there are some with great banking products. For example, Schwab is a popular bank among US nomads, and I use a Citibank Australia debit card that has no international transaction fees. I will continue to use this account as I am happy with it while using other accounts presented below.
I’ve made this post as an informative list of alternative banking options. There is no one best bank account for travel as everyone will have different needs and uses.
I’ve also included some online finance and investment platforms that I use, and I will continue to expand and edit this post when I review more direct banking and finance options.
Virtual Banks
When I started compiling this list I was sorting banks into categories: Traditional Banks, Virtual Banks, Digital Wallets, and Crypto Banks. It became apparent that these banks are becoming hybrid banks that offers multiple services. And with the remote worker lifestyle becoming more mainstream, these new banks are not limiting themselves to just the citizens of the banks home country.
After the crypto boom of 2017 some of the virtual/direct banks are now offering fiat and cryptocurrencies in one account. I expect that more online banks will offer this as crypto becomes mainstream.
Some of these new banks are brands of established banks, while some are FinTech startups new to the banking and finance scene. With that in mind a factor to consider is if the bank has a government-backed deposit insurance. For example Nemea Bank was an online bank from Malta that went under administration in 2017, which was covered by a Depositor Compensation Scheme.
I’ve listed global and regional banks first, and then country-specific accounts. None of these are sponsored links, some have affiliate links, and I will indicate which ones I have an account with or have applied to.
Global

Revolut
Revolut is an online bank that offers a free UK current account and free Euro IBAN account. Get interbank FX rates and free bank transfers in 25 currencies. The account also lets you buy and exchange cryptocurrency instantly (Bitcoin, Ether and Litecoin) at competitive exchange rates.

Crypto.com
Crypto.com (formerly Monaco) is a crypto bank based in Zug, Switzerland (known as Crypto Valley). Crypto.com has issued its own token (CRO), and your account is issued with a free visa card which offers real exchange rates on purchases. Depending on what card option you pick, you can earn cashback in CRO on every transaction, which can be converted to BTC/ETH or fiat currencies.
I have been using Crypto.com as a deposit account to earn interest. I have been earning 10% interest on AUD deposits, which beats the .1% offered by Australian banks.
You need to sign up via the mobile app and have an associated phone number. Use my referral code and get a signup bonus. Sign up here.

Bankera
Bankera is a digital bank with traditional banking services that will support cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies. It bills itself as “banking for the blockchain era”. In addition to being a cryptocurrency exchange it will offer familiar banking products, such as IBAN accounts, payment cards and payment processing.
This is one of the new wave of virtual banks that is positioning itself as a crypto bank that also holds currency. Bankera has issued tokens by initial coin offering called Bankers (BNK).
China

WeChat Pay
If you want to see the future of mobile payments, go to China. It’s not an exaggeration to say that cash is becoming extinct in China. Even humble street food carts have a scan code for paying by mobile, and WeChat Pay has become one of the digital wallets of choice.
If you are travelling to China then get the WeChat messaging app set up before you go. It’s also the messaging and social network app of choice (Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China). You also get the bonus of being spied on by the Chinese government.
Philippines

Coins.ph
Coins.ph is a mobile wallet from the Philippines which stores Philippine peso and bitcoin. With this app you can pay bills, receive payments, withdraw from ATM’s, and buy and sell bitcoin.
I work with outsourcers based in the Philippines so I would like to see this become a popular alternative to Paypal.
Thailand

coins.co.th
coins.co.th is the Thai version of Coins.ph. If you are planing to spend an extended time in Thailand it maybe worth getting this to save on bank fees. ATM fees are quite high (180 Baht on average) which soon adds up if you are living there. You can also buy and sell bitcoin with your account.
United Kingdom

Monzo
Monzo is a UK-based online bank which is accessed via your smartphone app. Monzo received their full UK banking licence from the FCA and PRA in April 2017, and so far over 400,000 customers have signed up.
International Transfers

Wise
Wise (formerly known as TransferWise) allows you to transfer money between countries with the real exchange rate, with a small transfer fee. Wise also have a borderless account, which is a multi-currency account that lets you keep money in 28 currencies, and convert between them at the real exchange rate whenever you need. You also get your own personal account numbers and bank codes for USD, GBP, EUR and AUD.
I have an account with TransferWise, and now that the borderless accounts have been added I will be promoting this to clients as a preferred payment method over Paypal. Get a free transfer when using my referral link.

Payoneer
Payoneer provides online money transfer and digital payment services. This service is popular with freelancers and affiliate marketers that don’t have a US bank account. You can withdraw funds to your local bank or at ATMs worldwide with your Payoneer card.
Cryptocurrency Exchanges
I’ve included cryptocurrency in this roundup as it is a useful form of payment and transferring for international travellers. As we have seen in the virtual banks’ section, cryptocurrency is seeping into mainstream acceptance as a form of payment and store of value.
Even if you think that Bitcoin is not for you, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is here to stay. You don’t want to be that guy who said that the internet will fail. Rather than dismissing cryptocurrency completely, it’s worth becoming crypto literate. This is a large topic that goes beyond the scope of this post, so spend some time to research if you are not up to speed with the crypto world.
Cryptocurrency, as it stands now, is like being back in the early days of the internet. The leading cryptocurrencies now might be like the Netscape of the early nineties and replaced completely in a few years by something else.
Continuing with the mid-nineties analogy, the cryptocurrency exchange market resembles the early internet in that there is no dominant brand like Google or Amazon yet, which is probably a good thing.
There there are hundreds of exchanges operating so the best thing to do is to open a few different accounts and see which one works for you. Some accounts take weeks to verify and some altcoins are only available on selected exchanges, so you will end up with several different accounts.
This section is a list of some prominent cryptocurrency exchanges. Recommended cryptocurrencies and how to store crypto offline is another story beyond the purpose of this post.

Crypto.com
Crypto.com has grown to become one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world. They have made buying crypto easy by offering free and instant fiat transfers from your bank, so there no need to apply to an intermediary account to transfer funds.
Use my referral code and get a signup bonus. Sign up here.

Binance
Binance is a centralised crypto exchange based in Hong Kong that offers coin to coin exchange and fiat deposits to buy coins. They are now the world’s largest crypto exchange, and their inhouse token (BNB) is now in the top 5 by market cap.

SpectroCoin
SpectroCoin offers a fiat and virtual currency exchange with more than 20 currency options and multiple ways to make a deposit. SpectroCoin also offer a prepaid cards, which can be used at ATMs or as a debit card. Cards can be denominated in dollars (USD), euros (EUR), or pounds (GBP).

Coinbase
While we’re on the analogy of Crypto as being in the mid-’90s, Coinbase is like the AOL of the early internet. They have made buying Bitcoin easy to understand for the general non-techie public, just as AOL made getting email easy in the early days. If you haven’t got an account you can get $10 added to your account with your first trade of $100 or more with this referral link: Join Coinbase here.

CoinJar
For Australian and UK residents, CoinJar is a simple way to buy, sell and spend bitcoin. I signed up and it is indeed very simple compared to other crypto exchanges.

Changelly
Changelly is a cryptocurrency exchange that facilitates exchanges between digital currencies. It has a decent list of alt coins where you can convert Bitcoin. It doesn’t provide conversion to or from traditional currencies so you need to buy BTC/ETH somewhere else first then transfer it over.

LocalBitcoins.com
LocalBitcoins.com facilitates the locating of other Bitcoin holders to buy and sell from. This is a more private way of trading if you prefer not to register your personal details at an exchange.
Gold
Gold isn’t the most convenient asset to carry as a nomad, but if you have secure storage then here is a directory of gold dealers. Large gold storage can be handled by BFI Bullion in Switzerland. As a nomad though, it is easier to buy gold online.
Subscribe to this gold newsletter for weekly gold news.

BullionVault
BullionVault is the world’s largest online investment gold service. Bars are stored in recognised bullion storage facilities in Zurich, London, New York, Toronto, and Singapore (you choose where to store). You can buy and sell any amount from 1 gram with low transaction commissions and storage fees. Gold bought at BullionVault is vaulted gold (also called allocated gold), so the gold is 100% outright owned by the gold investor. I have had an account with BullionVault since 2006.

Vaultoro
Vaultoro is a vaulted gold service where you can buy gold with bitcoin. The bullion is 100% allocated gold secured under your name, as your property, held off Vaultoro’s balance sheet. I have also opened an account here.
Credit Cards
Credit cards are useful as an instant line of credit for emergencies or a tight cash flow situation, but they are expensive if you don’t manage them right.
I have a Qantas card which costs $50 a year to keep, plus it charges a 3% surcharge on international purchases. For every $1000 I spend overseas I incur $30 in charges, and those purchases earn between 500 to 1000 points. A one-way flight from Melbourne to Sydney is 8000 points, and a flight on Qantas can be found for under $100. If I am only earning points on international spends then it doesn’t work out in my favour.
Most people get value from these cards from the signup bonuses, which offer a lump of points (for example 50,000 points after spending $2,000 in 3 months) and no signup fee for a year. After the first year, you then cancel the card move on to the next one.
I now have a Crypto.com Visa Card, which offers cashback instead of frequent flyer points. The cashback percentage is determined by how much CRO (the Crypto.com token) you have staked to the card. Going back to my point of losing money on the Qantas card, it will make more sense to earn cashback rewards with this card in the future.
The Crypto.com Visa Card is a prepaid card. This is similar to a debit card, except that this card needs to be topped up in the app and not connected to a bank. You can top up using bank account transfers, other credit/debit cards, or cryptocurrency.
You can get a $25 bonus when signing up with this link.
This section is just a look at my personal credit card usage. I’ve left credit cards out of this list as that is a post in itself and cards varies by country. If you are from the US then playing the travel hacking game with credit cards is a worthy pursuit, but not so much for everyone else.
The Future of digital banking and finance
While I was compiling this report I opened several bank accounts to test out the process. One of the biggest stumbling blocks is continually having to prove your identity, often with archaic identification methods (like paper statements). This is a problem that might be solved by blockchain technology.
For now, I’m still straddling the divide between traditional banks and new banks.
Disclaimers/Disclosures:
I’m adding an extra disclosure here because no doubt I will be getting plenty of link requests for this article.
The products listed are presented as an informative directory and not an editorial endorsement. I am not paid for reviews and I don’t accept paid link placements. I don’t have any involvement with the companies listed. I’m not a financial advisor so do your own research before making investments. Some of these links include affiliate links, which may earn me a commission at no extra cost to you.
I’ve been using Transferwise for almost two years now and it is amazing. It’s so easy and has saved me so much in feed when transferring between my different accounts!
Great! I had no idea about most of these. Thanks a ton for sharing.
If you are an American consider Charles Schwab bank. Open a brokerage account (you don’t have to buy stocks) and they will link a checking account to it with an ATM/Debit/Credit Card and you can withdraw money all over the world at any VISA ATM and they reimburse all ATM Fees with no monthly limit. Link any bank accounts to the Schwab account and move money to and from for free!
Indeed Phil, I researched the various possibilities to open a digital account and Schwab was one of the best I saw. If I were American I’d open an account with them in a heart beat.
They’re among the best in the top 50 banks in the US.
Big thumbs up for Monzo and Revolut. They are shaking up the UK banking sector for sure.
Also Starling bank which is my current choice. Also pays 0.5% interest on current account balances.
Great article, thanks. Plenty of very much needed info.
There are a couple of banks not mentioned on your list:
Hello Bank
ING
Mona
Orange
Also, most banks still require a proof of a physical address in the country you apply for the bank account. N26 is one of them. I find that a real bummer: here you have banks that pride themselves to be the answer fora location independent person’s needs, or a nomadic life. How nomadic are we if we have to prove that we live permanently in one country, I wonder. I’m opening an account with N26 while I have a permanent physical address, but soon I’ll be traveling for several years without permanent base. I wonder what will happen then 😉
Hi, I agree so much, it feels archaic and restrictive, not to mention insecure, to have this requirement. If you have a second, have you found a bank that doesn’t require a physical address?
I’m using 2 Fidelity Visa ATM cards in Asia. They have no fees on their end and reimburse local bank charges. So far so good. I also carry regular USA ATM debit cards which do hit me for fees. So I can withdraw 2-4X single card limits at once. In India, e.g. there’s a 10000 RS daily limit ($160). So more than one card helps.
So far, I’m going back to the States once a year to file taxes, go thru mail, restock supplements, etc. However, the issue of having no location at all is interesting.What happens with identity theft, etc?
I think it’s important to note that ”popular” and ”ubiquitous” and ”only-option” are not synonymous. Because PP is (for all practical purposes) the ONLY payment source permitted on eBay, it’s difficult (or impossible) for any eBay seller to determine with any accuracy PayPal’s actual ”popularity”. That’s like saying that PEPCO is the most ”popular” electric company in my town because everyone uses it! I started using eeewallet has my personal wallet and i can accept payments in eeewallet cash, paypal, bitcoin, banks eu and other 200+, credit card,perfect money, exmo, payeer, advcash and pthers ..
I recently changed banks to Charles Schwab! Great to see it’s getting the attentions it deserves.Bering able to withdraw from anywhere is wonderful. Great post!
Hey there James,
As an Aussie Nomad with international clients but income from Aus as well, I’ve found the best combination for us with no or low fees is:
* Citibank Everyday account for no annual fee and no ATM fees around the world
* 28 Degrees Credit card through Latitude Financial- No annual fee and NO foreign exchange fees
* Transferwise for taking client payments and sending money home. When us Aussies can have access to the TFW debit card that will mean I can just create different currency accounts in that system and won’t have to send home before I can take it back out again. That combination is saving us well over $2000 AUD in fees each year.
Sharyn
I’ve used TransferWise many times and I don’t have issues at all. The app was user-friendly, convenient, and secure. Also, the exchange rate is lower compared to other money transfers.
Good options for the people of the First World class.
I so need to read this carefully.
UK banks are much a rip off as Ozzie banks are.
But without a job opening a new account with a high street bank is impossible. And of course, being forever away i need virtual bank!
I see people on here saying Transferwise(now Wise in 2021)being good(cheap) for transfers.Not by my experience-Smallworldfs.com is a lot cheaper.CitiBank offer really good rates when I need to accept foreign lodgements into my current account.Unfortunately they do not have any presence where I live for personal customers.
Thanks for this great article, I’m going to check out one of the virtual banks you mentioned, maybe Bankera. Cheers!
This is a really great breakdown of today’s banking and digital payment environment. I am very curious to use WeChat in China. Thanks for the article.