SAVE UP PROGRAMME BY MAYBANK
The Save Up programme was enhanced on June 1. Maybank customers now have nine options to choose from, to help them achieve the maximum interest rate of 3 per cent a year.
The deposit cap for the bonus interest has also been raised, so customers can enjoy higher interest on the first $60,000 in their SaveUp Account, up from $50,000.
Under this bundled savings programme, customers can earn additional interest of 0.3 percentage point a year to 2.75 per cent a year for their SaveUp Account, on top of the base interest of up to 0.3125 per cent a year if they bundle the account with one or more products and services.
Maybank says that unlike some similar offerings by competitors where the additional interest varies for different products, Save Up customers can earn the maximum bonus interest of 2.75 per cent a year as long as they take up any three out of nine qualifying products and services.
They include hire purchase deals, renovation loans and education loans.
Maybank Singapore's head of community financial services, Mr Choong Wai Hong, said: "We see rising interest among customers to park their money in high-earning savings accounts. SaveUp accounts have quadrupled over the past two years, with deposits rising 66 per cent last year.
Professionals, managers, executives and technicians comprise 64 per cent of the Save Up customer base, and the majority of this group are between the ages of 25 and 54.
ENHANCED TRAVEL INSURANCE PLAN BY AVIVA
Aviva has enhanced its travel insurance policy with a first-in-the-market feature offering cover for cancellation or change of travelling date for any reason.
The insurer said this is to provide greater flexibility to consumers who may have to cancel their trips due to sudden work commitments, family emergencies or even simply a change of mind. A 50 per cent reimbursement will be provided for such claims.
Travel insurance policies typically cover trip cancellations or change of travelling dates for specific claimable reasons such as death, injury or illness.
The enhanced travel plan offers an optional cover for travel due to more novel reasons such as destination weddings and overseas photoshoots.
It covers financial loss if your wedding service providers become insolvent and leave you in the lurch. It also covers personal liability for injuries to guests or damage to property, as well as the loss of items such as wedding attire, accessories and marriage certificates, among other things.
Other new riders that Aviva has introduced to better cater to consumers' travel plans include coverage for winter sports such as skiing, water sports like diving and golf vacations.
Aviva has also teamed up with carpooling app Ryde to enable Ryde members to purchase Aviva's travel insurance directly via the mobile app.
Ryde members will be fully covered even during journeys to and from the airport.
MYACCIDENTGUARD BY AVIVA
MyAccidentGuard is a personal accident insurance plan which provides a payout that is up to 1.5 times the sum assured for accidental death/dismemberment (for example, losing an arm).
Offering worldwide coverage, it provides a payout of two times the sum assured for accidents on public transportation (including ride-sharing transport like Grab and Uber), and three times for accidents on a plane or cruise ship. There is coverage for 21 infectious diseases, including hand, foot and mouth disease, dengue and Zika.
For those aged 55 and below, and covered for a sum assured of $500,000, the premium is $348.68 a year or $29 a month. The premium also depends on your occupation.
You will receive a daily cash payout for up to 365 days if you are hospitalised as a result of an accident and there is an optional cover for additional weekly income if you are unable to work due to an accident or illness.
Coverage for this plan - with sums assured of $250,000 (Lite), $500,000 (Standard), $750,000 (Prime) and $1 million (Prestige) - is until the age of 99, and there is a 10 per cent premium discount when you purchase MyAccidentGuard for your children.
SEEDLY MOBILE APPLICATION BY SEEDLY SINGAPORE
The Seedly mobile app is a personal finance management tool that was launched late last year and serves more than 15,000 users here.
The app offers users a view of a user's different bank and credit card accounts on a single platform by importing account balances and transactions into the app.
With multiple layers of security in place, such as modern asymmetric encryption and fingerprint TouchID, users can log in to the app with read-only access.
Seedly puts all the relevant expenses and income into 33 different categories ranging from food and beverage to groceries and transport, saving users much time relative to doing the computation manually.
The app provides personalised tips and content, which targets millennial Singaporean users aged between 22 and 35 with concerns about building their nest eggs and starting a family.
Seedly aims to be a relevant and modern way to manage your money, with the capacity to compare, for example, Uber and Grab spending per month, track monthly cashback rebates and provide smarter budgeting.
The local start-up is funded by East Ventures and currently incubated by NUS Enterprise.
