Business Bank accounts

American Express Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card: In-depth Review

Sanjeed V K

07.02.25

Read time 6 minutes

A business travel credit card is an essential companion for business travellers with frequent overseas trips. A reliable card not only enhances your travel experience with perks like cabin upgrades, and complimentary airport lounge accesses, but also optimises business expenses while offering smoother financial transactions abroad.

If you’re looking for a business card to complement your travels, here’s a comprehensive review of one of the most popular travel credit cards - the American Express Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card, also known as AMEX HighFlyer Card, which may pique your interest.

Besides reviewing the AMEX HighFlyer Card features, fees, benefits, pros and cons, we’ll also take a look at the Wise Business Card, an alternative business debit card that lets you pay in the currency of the country you’re buying from at the mid-market exchange rate to save on conversion fees.

Table of contents
Quick Overview – AMEX SIA Business Credit Card vs Wise Business Card How does a corporate miles card work What’s unique about Amex Highflyer Card rewards Benefits of HighFlyer points Other card benefits businesses will love Wise Business Card Pros and Cons Of AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card

Quick Overview – American Express Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card vs Wise Business Card

Before we delve deeper into the AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card, let’s look at its features, fees and benefits, and compare it with the Wise Business Card.

Feature	AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card¹	Wise Business Card³
Annual Fee	S$304.59* (inclusive of 9% GST)	S$4 One-time fee⁴, No annual fee required
Supplementary Annual Fee	Free for first 2 Supplementary Cards. S$100.85 (incl. of 9% GST) each	Free 3 digital cards on top of physical Wise Business card⁵
Minimum Annual Income	Card approval is subjected to customers meeting the regulatory minimum income requirement and internal assessment	None
Foreign Transaction Fee	3.25% ²	None
Fee/ Interest on Cash Advances	5%/ 25.90% per annum*	Not applicable
Interest on Spending	26.90%*	Not applicable
Benefits	HighFlyer points, Singapore Airlines perks, flexible payment	No subscription fee, mid-market exchange rates, manage team’s spending via Wise Business account

*Details correct at time of research - 15th January 2025

How does a corporate miles card work

Corporate miles cards are designed to reward businesses for their spending. These cards typically allow cardholders to earn travel miles for every dollar spent and use them to redeem for flights, upgrades, or other travel-related benefits.

A good example of a corporate mile card is the AMEX HighFlyer Card. It offers features and benefits that enhance expense management, travel efficiency, and operational savings. The card operates on the HighFlyer points system that enables business travellers to turn business expenses into HighFlyer points to offset flight and payment benefits.

American Express has several other business credit cards for different needs
➡️Check out: Comparing Amex Corporate Cards for Singapore Businesses: Which is Best for 2025?

What’s unique about Amex HighFlyer Card rewards

The AMEX HighFlyer Card is commonly known as the Amex-SIA Business Card because it is tied closely to Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group. This means you can gain access to a substantial list of SIA-related perks to incentivise your business travels:

HighFlyer Business Travel Programme

You can accelerate your miles earning potential to 8.5 KrisFlyer miles per dollar spent (equivalent to 8.5 HighFlyer points). SIA even rewards you with up to 20,000 bonus HighFlyer points when you spend on the Singapore Airlines Group.

KrisFlyer Elite Gold

Receive the KrisFlyer Elite Gold Status⁶ when you spend S$15,000 with the SIA Group in the first 12 months. This membership entitles you to many travel benefits including extra baggage allowance, access to Star Alliance Gold lounges, and priority services on Singapore Airlines and Scoot flights.

Complimentary hotel stay

Obtain the Accor Plus membership⁷ to receive a free hotel stay across Asia Pacific every year. This Asia Pacific’s leading travel loyalty subscription membership also offers you exclusive benefits across 20 countries, 1,000 hotels and over 1,400 restaurants in Asia Pacific.

Business savings

Collect over S$8,850 worth of business savings when your business spends on digital advertising services. Participating brands include reputable platforms like Meta, Google Ads, Microsoft 365, AWS, iStock, Mailchimp, Shopify, and Fiverr.

Benefits of HighFlyer points

The HighFlyer Business Travel Programme offers a lot more benefits than generous KrisFlyer miles and HighFlyer points. The well-thought-out programme lets business owners and fellow employees optimise every dollar spent.

These are 4 more ways to benefit from this HighFlyer Programme:

Earn double points

Your Amex-SIA Business Card earns HighFlyer points on the company account, while your employees earn KrisFlyer miles on their KrisFlyer account. It also rewards your employees with 1 KrisFlyer mile when you convert your HighFlyer points to KrisFlyer miles.

By accumulating more points, everyone can unlock better travel experiences while reducing business travel costs.

HighFlyer points has long validity

Unlike some rewards programs, HighFlyer points are valid for 3 years. They can be used to partially or fully pay for SIA flights, with no restrictions or blackout dates.

Earn extra points With SIA or Scoot

You’ll earn an extra 3.5 to 5 HighFlyer points when you book SIA or Scoot flights and pay with the Amex Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card.

More savings when travelling With SIA Group

Enjoy more savings on your business expenses with preferential SIA or Scoot airfares. Use your HighFlyer points to pay for your flights and redeem services like extra baggage allowance, seat selection fees, and cabin class upgrades.

Other card benefits businesses will love

Even though we’ve just gone through a long-list of card benefits, there are more that the Amex Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card has to offer. It also lets you optimise your business cash flow and indulge in more travel experiences with the following:

Flexible payment terms

Don’t need to fret about large expenses on Singapore Airlines purchases because the card lets you spread the payments over 6 months at no interest. This allows you to conserve your funds and spend them on more critical business expenses.

51 interest-free days

Cardholders enjoy 51-day interest-free transactions. This eases your cash flow by channelling available funds towards immediate operational costs while you await outstanding payments from customers.

Welcome offers

The Amex Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card offers attractive welcome bonuses for new card applicants. The rewards include:

Up to 33,000 HighFlyer points. Receive these bonus points upon annual fee payment and over S$3,000 spent within the first 2 months of Card approval. Use points to redeem a return ticket to Bangkok, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Up to 53,100 HighFlyer points. Receive these bonus points upon annual fee payment and over S$3,000 spent within the first 2 months of Card approval on eligible Singapore Airlines Group flights. Use points to redeem a return trip to Shanghai, Maldives, or Perth.

Wise Business Card: The ideal corporate card to support your global business

Illustration of Wise Business products

The Wise Business Card is an excellent complement to the AMEX HighFlyer Card.

Together with the Wise Business Account, it fills the gap in affordable foreign transaction capabilities and provides cost-effective payment options to allow business travellers to maximise value on all fronts.

Here are some reasons why the Wise Business Card stands out amongst business cards:

No annual fee

The Wise Business Card has no annual fee. All you need to pay is a S$4 one-time fee to get the card, and a S$99 one-time fee to enjoy all features in the Wise Business account. This makes it a cost-effective option for startups and Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

No foreign exchange markup

Unlike traditional cards that impose high foreign transaction fees, Wise provides a clear breakdown of fees and applies mid-market exchange rates with low, transparent conversion fees starting from 0.26%. This can save businesses a significant amount on cross-border transactions.

Affordable business payment solution

Wise presents a low-cost payment solution not readily available among business cards. Besides the ease of application and no recurring subscription fee, the Wise Business Card offers an affordable mid-market exchange rate and no foreign transaction fee.

These features translate to significant savings for businesses that regularly make large international payments.

Learn more about Wise Business

Pros and Cons Of AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card

The AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card does offer many benefits to business travellers and fans of SIA, but there are also downsides that you must not ignore when applying for one.

Review these pros and cons to determine if this card is right for your business:

Pros	Cons
Access complimentary hotel stay, car rental discounts, and worldwide airport lounges. Improve travel experience and offer additional savings for business-related expenses.	High annual fee of S$304.59. Compared with the Wise Business Card which charges nothing, it is an expensive recurring investment.
Many travel perks for business travellers who are SIA loyalists. Enjoy preferential SIA or Scoot airfares and travel services like extra baggage allowance, seat selection fees, and cabin class upgrades. Cardholders also earn more HighFlyer points/ Krisflyer miles per dollar spent on SIA flights.	High foreign transaction fee of 3.25%. High cost for making large international payments. Alternative solutions like the Wise Business Card do not impose a fee.
Affordable cash advance transaction fee and interest compared to other bank cards. At 5% fee of the amount withdrawn and 25.90% (per annum) interest for Cash Advance, the Amex-SIA Business Card is more affordable than business cards from UOB⁹,Maybank¹⁰ and Citibank¹¹ that charge an 8% fee and 28.5% interest.	Minimum income requirement is unclear and card application is subjected to internal assessment. The card application process is not straightforward. Difficult to gain access to card services and benefits.
Flexible payment terms and 51 interest-free transactions Cardholders can pay SIA purchases over 6 months at no interest hence easing up business cash flow for better fund management.

Pros

Cons

Access complimentary hotel stay, car rental discounts, and worldwide airport lounges.

Improve travel experience and offer additional savings for business-related expenses.

High annual fee of S$304.59.

Compared with the Wise Business Card which charges nothing, it is an expensive recurring investment.

Many travel perks for business travellers who are SIA loyalists.

Enjoy preferential SIA or Scoot airfares and travel services like extra baggage allowance, seat selection fees, and cabin class upgrades. Cardholders also earn more HighFlyer points/ Krisflyer miles per dollar spent on SIA flights.

High foreign transaction fee of 3.25%.

High cost for making large international payments. Alternative solutions like the Wise Business Card do not impose a fee.

Affordable cash advance transaction fee and interest compared to other bank cards.

At 5% fee of the amount withdrawn and 25.90% (per annum) interest for Cash Advance, the Amex-SIA Business Card is more affordable than business cards from UOB⁹,Maybank¹⁰ and Citibank¹¹ that charge an 8% fee and 28.5% interest.

Minimum income requirement is unclear and card application is subjected to internal assessment.

The card application process is not straightforward. Difficult to gain access to card services and benefits.

Flexible payment terms and 51 interest-free transactions

Cardholders can pay SIA purchases over 6 months at no interest hence easing up business cash flow for better fund management.

Conclusion

The AMEX Singapore Airlines Business Credit Card offers robust features tailored to support businesses in Singapore with frequent travel and operational needs. Its HighFlyer points system, KrisFlyer perks, and significant business savings make it an attractive option for companies to optimise every business dollar they spend.

However, the card does have some drawbacks. The unstructured card application process can be confusing for some applicants, and the high foreign transaction fees may not offer the best solution to businesses handling large international payments.

This is where the Wise Business Card comes in. Unlike banks, Wise does not hide any fees in foreign exchange markups and only uses the mid-market exchange rate, ensuring cross-border transactions are straightforward and cost-effective.

By using both cards, businesses can:

Enjoy the travel perks of the AMEX HighFlyer Card,
And benefit from Wise’s affordable international payment solutions.

Get Started with Wise Business today

Streamline global business payments and complement your corporate travel card setup.

Sources:

Sources checked: 15th January 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.