Singapore Expats

Hey All,

Can anyone give me advice on where to save money? Is there any similar savings banks like ING, Northern Rock etc.

Thanks

Lyndan wrote:Hey All,

Can anyone give me advice on where to save money? Is there any similar savings banks like ING, Northern Rock etc.

Thanks

Most banks offer very lousy interest rates here in Singapore, even for term deposits.

I'd be interested to find a higher interest account as well if anyone knows of any

My St George bank acc in Aust offers me 4% with no minimum balance, up to 5.25% as my savings grows with no annual fees.

The cost of fund for Sing dollar is about 2.5% now... Therefore it is impossible for you to find any accounts in Sing dollars that can give you interest the same as Aussie dollar...

aussie dollar? why don't you get an IDR account then? you'll earn around 8.5% interest ... or a nzd account will earn you over 8% interest.

why stop at aussie??

The choice of currencies depend on the individual risks and do they need that currencies... No doubt NZD gives a higher interest, but it has a higher volatility too... If the investors is very conservative and do not require the usage of NZD at all, then it will not be wise to invest in NZD.

can you more details on IDR accounts? where would I be able to apply for one?

S$ depos are all relatively low interest given rates are so low. Having a sniff around, there are the following offers:

Standard Chartered e$aver - 1.5% up to S$50k, 2.0% over that
Maybank "iSavvy" - 1.68% $5k - S$50k, 1.98% over that
HSBC has a multicurrency account which pays 2.0% under S$50k, and 2.28% over that

All these rates are subject to change so you should suss out the banks' websites.

Lyndan,
It depends on what you are supposed to do with the money. Medium term? short term? That is an important factor too.