Tag Archive: OCBC

Apr
23
2012

Launch of OCBC Cashflo Card

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by Martin Lee

April 23, 2012

OCBC recently launched a credit card with an inbuilt interest-free instalment plan for any purchase, anywhere. This is the first card of its kind in Singapore.

A typical credit card only gives you interest-free on your purchases up till your statement due date, after which you will have to settle the outstanding balance in full or incur interest.

The OCBC Cashflo card helps customers manage their cash flow by automatically dividing their credit card purchase amounts into three or six equal interest-free monthly payments, when they charge any amount above S$100 to the card.

As an added feature, customers have the flexibility to set the minimum spend, in multiples of S$100, to activate the instalment plan on their cards.

The OCBC Cashflo card offers a six-month instalment plan for purchases made at major Singapore department stores – Robinsons, Takashimaya, Isetan and CK Tangs, luxury boutiques, insurance companies, travel agencies as well as for any overseas spend. Any other purchase will automatically go onto a three-month instalment plan.

In addition to the interest-free instalment plan, OCBC Cashflo card members will receive cash rebates of up to 1% for any purchase.

Customers can sign up for the card via OCBC Bank branches island-wide, with the annual fee of S$64.20 waived for the first two years. From 19 April to 30 June 2012, members who charge a minimum of S$500 within the first month of card approval will also receive a luggage bag.

While a three or six months interest free installment can seem enticing, we have to be careful not to overextend ourselves and buy something just because we can pay it off over a period of three or six months.

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May
09
2011

Closure of finatiQ

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by Martin Lee

May 9, 2011

FinatiQ was set up by OCBC Bank in 2000 as Singapore’s first online-only bank account. Back then, it offered superior interest rates compared to normal savings account. I remembered enjoying rates of about 3% on my funds in the account.

You could also buy unit trusts online via the platform although somehow, this aspect didn’t take off in a big way.

With internet banking becoming a mainstay of pretty much every bank these days, OCBC has decided to shut down finatiQ on 30 June 2011.

Affected customers will be given the following options:

For Deposit Accounts

1. Transfer deposit balance to a same-name (first-party) OCBC Bank account; or

2. Open an OCBC Bank Statement Savings account and transfer deposit balance to that same-name (first-party) account; or

3. Receive deposit balance as a cashiers order.

For Unit Trust holdings

1. Transfer all holdings to OCBC Bank; or

2. Transfer all holdings to Fundsupermart.com; or

3. Redeem all holdings; or

4. Transfer holdings to another distributor. Customers will need to approach the distributor of their choice for a transfer form. The distributor will send us the form for processing, after which customers will receive a letter from finatiQ confirming the transfer. This process will take approximately four to six weeks.

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Dec
16
2010

Trade Securities Via OCBC Internet Banking

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by Martin Lee

December 16, 2010

It appears that OCBC now allows their OCBC Securities customers to trade stocks by using their OCBC internet banking login. This can be done by linking the OCBC bank online account to the OCBC Securities trading account.

DBS had done something similar in the past with a linkage which also comes with a cash upfront feature that allows you to buy stocks at 0.18% commission (min $18).

While OCBC does not have this cash upfront feature yet, they are running a promotion (between 24 November 2010 and ends on 31 January 2011) where you can get a $10 commission rebate for every trade made.

Or so I thought (from their advertisements promoting the $10 rebate quite prominently).

ocbc-securities-promotion

According to the terms and conditions, the $10 commission rebate is only applicable for amalgamation of trades.

Amalgamation means putting in multiple buy or sell orders of the same stock on the same day.

So it seems that the commission rebate will not be applicable to single orders. So misleading….

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Nov
11
2009

OCBC to Issue US$500 mln Bonds

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by Martin Lee

November 11, 2009

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (“OCBC Bank”) wishes to announce that it will launch today a benchmark international offering of U.S. dollar denominated fixed rate subordinated notes (“Notes”) to institutional and sophisticated investors. The Notes are expected to have a 10-year maturity and a call option 5 years from the issue date, with a step-up in the fixed rate coupon after the 5th year if the Notes are not called by OCBC Bank.
The Notes are expected to qualify as Lower Tier 2 regulatory capital of OCBC Bank. The proposed issue is part of OCBC Bank’s ongoing capital management plan to improve the mix of its Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital instruments, so as to enhance the efficiency of its capital structure. As of 30 September 2009, OCBC Group’s Tier 2 capital was fully offset by deductions from capital and its eligible total capital comprised entirely of eligible Tier 1 capital. Both the Group’s Tier 1 and total capital adequacy ratios were 15.2% as of 30 September 2009.
The net proceeds from the issue of the Notes will be used for general corporate purposes of OCBC Bank. The proposed issue is unrelated to the funding of the proposed acquisition of ING Asia Private Bank Limited and its affiliated entities, announced on 15 October 2009.
OCBC Bank, Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte. and Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte. are joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the proposed issue.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC Bank)  announced yesterday that it will launch a US$500 bond issue to institutional and sophisticated investors. The Notes are expected to have a 10-year maturity (year 2019) and a call option 5 years from the issue date, with a step-up in the fixed rate coupon after the 5th year if the Notes are not called by OCBC Bank.

The proposed bond issue is part of OCBC Bank’s ongoing capital management plan to improve the mix of its Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital instruments, so as to enhance the efficiency of its capital structure. As of 30 September 2009, OCBC Group’s Tier 2 capital was fully offset by deductions from capital and its eligible total capital comprised entirely of eligible Tier 1 capital. Both the Group’s Tier 1 and total capital adequacy ratios were 15.2% as of 30 September 2009.

The net proceeds from the issue of the bonds will be used for general corporate purposes of OCBC Bank. The proposed issue is unrelated to the funding of the proposed acquisition of ING Asia Private Bank Limited and its affiliated entities, announced on 15 October 2009.

OCBC Bank, Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited, Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) and Goldman Sachs (Singapore) are joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the proposed issue.

The OCBC bonds will pay a coupon of 4.25% p.a. for the first five years. If the Notes are not redeemed or purchased and cancelled after 5 years, the interest rate from then to the maturity date on 18 November 2019 will be reset to a fixed rate per annum equal to the aggregate of the relevant 5-year US Treasury benchmark rate and 2.997%.

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Jun
03
2009

Beware of Fake Online Banking Sites

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by Martin Lee

June 3, 2009

Our three local banks – DBS, UOB and OCBC have been the target of scammers/phishers recently.

Computer trojan programs installed into infected computers can trick users into revealing their internet banking passwords. 

The login page looks very similar to the actual one, except are a minor difference. 

Here’s how the fake DBS login page looks like:


Notice that you are prompted to enter your token pin on the first login page. The request for the token pin is usually done on the second page.

If you observe the url of the fake site, it is identical to the real one. Even users who bookmark the normal login page can be taken to a fake site if your computer is infected with the trojan.

Do update your anti-virus software carefully and if you detect anything suspicious, do not hesitate to contact your bank.

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