Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Fixed deposit with Singapore banks

Hi Mr Tan

With the recent spats of numerous closures and bankrupts, how safe is it to put cash money in Fixed Deposits with local banks? I have retired 10 years ago, and most of my cash have been in fixed deposit.

REPLY
I think that it should be quite safe. You can break up with savings into several banks. There is an insurance scheme that guarantees deposits of up to $20,000 in each bank. It covers full licence banks in Singapore, whether local or foreign owned.

http://www.sdic.org.sg/faq.html#a5
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5 comments:

Weng Mao Fa said...

End-2007, I assit my parent, 70+, to transfer part of their FD to CPF Retiree account. Each of them receive $297 monthly. Family members always have a nice sleep.

October 01, 2008 11:39 AM
Anonymous said...

How about finance companies in Singapore? Are they covered by such insurance? Thank you.

October 01, 2008 11:42 AM
Weng Mao Fa said...

To be safe, don't listen to hearsay. Do a simple research:

1. Go to relevant Bank web site, look for "Investor Relations" and click 'Credit Rating' or 'Bank Rating'. The answer of 3 local big bank is "STABLE"

http://www.uob.com.sg/pages/investor/credit/index.html

http://www.dbs.com/investor/credit_ratings.html

http://www.ocbc.com.sg/global/investorrelations/Gco_Inv_CredRtOCBC.shtm

2. Go to "Investor Relations" and click 'financial result' or 'financial report'. Check for their quarterly profit figure. If plus figure under net profit, have a nice sleep.

GOOD LUCK.

October 01, 2008 12:16 PM
Anonymous said...

In the US, the guarantee is 100k and they have plan to raise it to 250k.

In Singapore, it is best that you open more bank accounts. Not a bad idea to store some money at home too as the bank interest rate is less than 1% so you are taking a credit risk of your princial with less than 1% return. Example if you store 50k at home, you may loose only an income of less than $500 per year but if the bank goes bust, you will loose 30k.

October 01, 2008 6:31 PM
Anonymous said...

SGS or bonds guaranteed by gahmen:

http://www.sgs.gov.sg/pub_guide/faqs/publ_faqindinvestors.html

October 01, 2008 7:19 PM

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