Banks in Samoa

Two of Samoa's commercial banks are locally owned and two are foreign-owned. The CBS registers and prudentially supervises them through its Financial Supervision and Regulation Department (FSRD), which conducts on-site and off-site supervision and sets prudential standards. The Central Bank of Samoa also manages monetary policy, currency, foreign-exchange controls, anti-money-laundering measures and national payment-system oversight. The main legal framework includes the Central Bank of Samoa Act 2015, Financial Institutions Act 1996, National Payment System Act 2014 and Money Laundering Prevention Act 2007. Licensed banks disclose financial-condition information quarterly. Bank customers can usually apply for individual, joint, sole-proprietor, business, community-organisation, cheque, savings, transaction, term-deposit and foreign-currency products. Banks commonly request identity documents, contact and residential information, and source-of-funds or income details where required. Eligibility, account features, fees and approval decisions remain bank-specific, and branch onboarding remains common. Non-resident access is handled case by case. A Foreign Currency Deposit Account (FCDA) is subject to a narrower foreign-exchange process. A resident individual or company generally needs foreign-exchange earnings and a genuine overseas commitment. The commercial bank performs due diligence and submits the request for prior CBS approval. Approved currencies, minimum and maximum balances, and permitted credits and debits follow the approval and Samoa's Exchange Control regulations. Savings and transaction accounts and term deposits are widely available, but interest rates and fees differ by bank. The CBS publishes commercial-bank comparison tables. No current official CBS evidence confirms a deposit-insurance scheme, so customers should not assume that deposits have a guaranteed insurance limit. SATS launched on 16 May 2023 and connects all four commercial banks. Its automated clearing house (ACH) handles batch clearing and settlement, while real-time gross settlement (RTGS) handles large-value payments with final settlement. The IFT service launched on 25 June 2025 and supports small-value interbank transfers in real time, 24 hours a day, up to SAT 1,000. Ordinary transfer timing can still depend on the channel, bank cut-off times, recipient posting and outages. Cheques and electronic transfers are legally recognised, and payment terms, fees and notices about liability for unauthorised transfers must be disclosed. Card options include ANZ Visa Debit for Visa, online, overseas and worldwide ATM use; ANZ Access Card for ANZ ATM and EFTPOS use; NBS Debit Mastercard for ATM, EFTPOS, online and overseas payments; NBS ATM Gold for withdrawals; and BSP PaciFiCard and Visa products. EFTPOS means electronic funds transfer at the point of sale. Acceptance, contactless limits, foreign-exchange conversion, non-bank ATM fees and merchant surcharges vary. ANZ's Visa Debit contactless limit is SAT 60 without a PIN. NBS advertises more than 40 ATMs and more than 100 EFTPOS outlets, and its published examples include free internal EziNet transfers, a SAT 5.50 domestic transfer to another bank, a SAT 65 annual or joining fee for its Debit Mastercard, a SAT 20 replacement fee, a SAT 0.50 ATM withdrawal fee and a 2.5% cross-border purchase fee. NBS card access is listed for people aged 18 or older who are Samoan residents or hold a residency visa. Digital services include ANZ Internet Banking and ANZ Pacific App, NBS EziNet and EziBank, BSP Online Banking, and SCB Internet Banking and MySCB Wallet. Depending on the bank, they provide balances, statements, internal and external transfers, bill payments, scheduled payments, overseas transfers, payroll or file uploads, alerts and loan information. Registration generally requires an existing bank account and a branch, one-time password, registered mobile number or registered email. Network availability and service outages can affect practical access. Vodafone Samoa M-Tala and Digicel Samoa MyCash are mobile-money or money-transfer services, not equivalent bank deposit accounts. M-Tala uses USSD *175#, agents for cash-in and cash-out, domestic and international transfers and bill payments. Its maximum account balance is SAT 10,000, while its daily transfer and withdrawal limit is SAT 1,000; lower limits apply to Tier 2 accounts. MyCash provides a wallet, QR payments, bill payments, top-ups and international remittances. These services can reduce travel to a branch, especially where island geography, ATM or EFTPOS coverage and network uptime make ordinary banking less convenient. The bank branch, call centre or digital-banking support team is the first contact for account and payment problems. A lost card or suspected unauthorised transaction should be reported to the bank immediately so it can freeze or block access and begin its dispute process. The bank's terms determine timing and liability. A customer normally uses the bank's internal complaint channel first. The CBS supervises prudential safety, payment systems and relevant financial conduct, while consumer-protection responsibilities primarily involve the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour (MCIL) under the Competition and Consumer Act 2016. No dedicated Samoa Banking Ombudsman is evidenced in the reviewed official material; the Government Ombudsman handles maladministration by government bodies rather than ordinary bank disputes. Know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering checks apply to banking relationships, and suspicious transactions may be reported to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Cash and bearer instruments worth SAT 20,000 or more entering or leaving Samoa require a Border Currency Report. CBS reporting attributed 70% of financial-institution suspicious reports to scams in financial year 2024/25 and 60% in financial year 2025/26 to date. Parcel, investment, romance, third-party-deposit or mule-account, and online-gaming scams are reported patterns. Do not disclose a PIN, password, one-time password or card-security data, and verify a caller or payment request through the bank's independently confirmed contact details. PacWallex and the TickTap Card were in the CBS Regulatory Sandbox from 4 May 2026 to 3 February 2027. A sandbox test has controlled users and limits and is not the same as a fully licensed bank account or card. Current bank tariffs, product terms, exchange rules, transfer cut-offs and service availability provide the basis for comparing providers because there is no universal fee or processing time.