For one UOB customer, the safe deposit box that she has held for more than three decades stores unconventional treasures, such as the umbilical cords of her four children and pieces of their baby hair.
“It’s something special which money cannot buy, and it isn’t common, so I decided to keep them as keepsakes,” she said, asking not to be named. She also keeps gold bars and jewellery, and important physical documents like her will in her box.
The vault stands in a discreet corner of the bank’s basement.
Inside, rows of reinforced stainless steel cabinets line the chamber from floor to ceiling (below), with fluorescent lighting reflecting off cold metal in the silence.
Customers sign in at the front counter before they are led past a huge vault door to the row where their box is.
As a safeguard, UOB holds on to one set of the master keys, while the customer is given two sets of keys to the box. For the safe deposit box door to unlatch, both a UOB staff member and the customer have to insert their keys and open it at the same time (below).
The customer then heads to one of the private rooms (below) within the vault to retrieve or deposit objects inside their box.
“The meaning of value is very different from person to person” says Ms Tang Tzu Bing, deputy branch manager of UOB’s main branch, who during her 25 years at the bank, has seen her fair share of interesting keepsakes and objects.
Safeguarding the customer’s privacy is top of the bank’s list, and staff members do not have permission to open a customer’s box. They can do so only during inventory checks when a box goes unpaid for, or when a grant of probate is required to be submitted when a customer dies.
It was on such occasions that Ms Tang sometimes uncovered objects quite unlike the usual items of value.
Her colleague Benny Chan, managing director of group channels and digitalisation, notes: “Customers sometimes come here just to take out their belongings in the privacy of a room like that, to relive some of the old memories which those items bring.”
“We had an ex-colleague who collected old documents, like treaties. Some were museum-grade quality with signatures from governors, sultans and leaders from 100 to 200 years ago, and he would keep them here,” he adds.
For one customer, the safe deposit box serves as a secure place to store his extensive watch collection (below), with the most expensive watch estimated to cost $225,000.
“In an uncertain world, many assets are kept in digital form, be it bonds, shares or cryptocurrency. If you think about it, what if some of these platforms fail? So I think it is always prudent, as part of your total assets, to have a certain portion in a physical form,” he says.
“Physical assets come in the form of things like gold and watches. Certain watches have a very strong resale value due to their brand, uniqueness and scarcity. There are also art, cigars, and even rare whisky. However, it is not advisable to collect these unless you have read and learnt enough from seasoned collectors,” he adds.
While some consider having a safe deposit box an archaic practice, there is a waiting list at UOB, according to Ms Tang.
“Even in this digital age, physical assets are still irreplaceable due to a myriad of reasons, ranging from monetary worth or the exclusiveness of a particular product, to sentimental items that evoke nostalgia,” she says.
“Since storing them at home may be a challenge due to space and security limitations, the safe deposit box service provides an accessible and affordable space housed within the familiar and secure premises of a bank branch for customers to store their most treasured items.”