Highest Fixed Deposit Rate in Singapore for June 2020

So I was checking on the various fixed deposit (FD) rates being offered locally since mum called me this morning to discuss about transferring some of her funds to a FD.

Just sharing below since sharing is caring : )

Note that all rates are from the respective institution's website as of 8th June 2020, 6 pm thereabout.

For comparison sake, this month's Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) offers a paltry 0.3% interest for the first year.

 
For younger generations age 65 and below, I feel one of the best options for a risk-free deposit now is the 2.5% P.A. interest rate currently offered by Singlife.

It's simple to set up and apply. Best of all it comes with some insurance coverage since it is technically an insurance company.

Top up and withdrawal can be done anytime too.

Downside is that the 2.5% P.A. interest rate is only applicable to the first $10,000.

SSB vs SIA Retail Bond

The pros and cons of the SIA retail bond have been written extensively by many bloggers so I will not be doing that with this post.

Instead I would like to just pen my short thoughts on it.

However before that, following are the yields of the Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) since beginning of last year. Interestingly I was browsing them before I decided to write this post.

Yields of the SSB have been falling since last December. And with the Federal Reserve not expecting further rate hikes this year, I suspect the SSB yield will remain flat for the next few months at least. 

Having said that, if we take the annualised yield of 2.16% based on next month's SSB and compare it against the 3.03% offered by the SIA retail bond, the difference is a 'mere' 0.87%.

I would choose the 'risk-free' SSB over the SIA retail bond anytime.

Firstly it is easier to redeem - pressing of atm and forking out $2.

Secondly it's flexible. 

Thirdly it makes no sense for me to take on more risk for the 0.87% premium.

Fixed Deposit Rates and Singapore Savings Bond

Recently I was looking around for options to park a portion of cash from my corporate account to earn some interest.

Instead of letting my funds 'sit' idly in the existing current account which doesn't gives any interest, I prefer to let them work harder and make additional 'friends'. The returns can be small but must be practically risk-free.

Having said that, options are not much. The first thing that comes to mind are interest-bearing current accounts and corporate fixed deposits (FD).

I went online to do some comparison work. Surprisingly some foreign banks are offering pretty attractive interest rates for their current accounts and FDs.

Some of the offers are for personal deposit only but I will list it down as well for readers' reference.

For ICBC FD

Validity: Till further notice
Caveat: Not sure whether it's applicable for corporate FD.

For ICBC FD + Current Account

Validity: 31st Oct 2018

For RHB FD

Validity: 31st Oct 2018
Caveat: For personal FD only. Not for corporate.

For CIMB FD

Validity: 31st Oct 2018
Caveat: For personal FD only. Not for corporate. 

For CIMB FD + Current Account

Validity: Till further notice
Caveat: For corporate FD only. Not for personal.

12 months FD only Rate: 1.65% P.A.
12 months FD + Current Account Rate: 1.83% P.A. (FD) + 0.78% P.A. (Current Account, Min. S$30k)

I also did a comparison with the upcoming Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) with issue date of 1st Nov 2018.

Again it's not applicable for corporate but just sharing for reference sake.

The offerings from CIMB actually compare favourably with the SSB if I take up the FD + current account bundle. However that might affect my cash flow since a minimum of S$30k has to be maintained in the account on top of the amount that I want to put into the FD.

Readers with extra personal cash wanting to park somewhere for risk-free interest, you might want to consider the FD offered by CIMB. At 1.84% interest, it is slightly higher than the 1.80% from the SSB.

However if you are going for longer tenor like 2 years and more, the SSB is still a more attractive option.