SINGAPORE: Standard Chartered Bank has raised the maximum interest rate on its flagship Bonus$aver savings account to 8.05 per cent a year – the highest ever offered by the bank.
The increase from 6.05 per cent kicked in from Sunday (Jun 1), bucking the downward trend in savings account interest rates here.
These rates typically track the monetary policy decisions of global central banks, namely the United States Federal Reserve. Since the Fed began cutting rates last year amid uncertain economic conditions, banks have duly brought down the interest rates paid to savers.
Two local banks – UOB and OCBC – lowered the interest rates on their flagship savings accounts last month, citing the need to be aligned with long-term interest rate expectations. For UOB, it was the second reduction in a year.
Standard Chartered itself had made two downward revisions over the past year amid the weaker rate environment globally – first in May 2024 when it lowered the Bonus$aver’s maximum interest rate to 7.68 per cent before a second cut to 6.05 per cent in January.
Asked why it is hiking interest rates this time and whether the record-high offering is sustainable, Standard Chartered would only say that its “headline rate matches the overall relationship value” it has with its clients, covering both daily banking and wealth solutions.
“While we continuously monitor macro trends, this holistic approach allows us to sustainably offer such a proposition rewarding clients who choose us as their primary banking partner,” Mr Usman Khalid, the bank’s global and Singapore head for deposits, mortgages and payments, told CNA in an emailed response on Tuesday.
Like the flagship savings accounts offered by other banks, Standard Chartered’s account holders need to fulfil several criteria to earn the bonus interest rates.
These include crediting a salary of at least S$3,000 (US$2,330), spending at least S$1,000 monthly on eligible credit and debit cards, as well as insuring and investing with the bank.
The qualifying criteria for its various categories are largely unchanged, except that equity investments of at least S$20,000 done through its online trading service will now qualify under the investment category.
The decision to include equity trades follows a “noticeable increase” in trading interest, with new client acquisition jumping 50 per cent in 2024 compared to the year before, Standard Chartered said.
With the revision, account holders now earn a bonus interest rate of 1.5 per cent a year when they spend at least S$1,000 monthly with eligible credit and debit cards, up from 1 per cent.
The bonus interest rate for the crediting of salaries has gone up to 1.5 per cent a year, from 1 per cent previously.
Account holders also earn bonus interest of 2.5 per cent a year when they invest or insure with the bank, compared with 2 per cent before.
These bonus interest rates are offered on the first S$100,000 of savings.
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