OCBC offers fixed deposit placements for CPF ordinary account savings at 3.4% a year

COMPETITION for cash has gone beyond the savings in customers’ bank accounts, with OCBC now asking Central Provident Fund (CPF) members to convert their Ordinary Account (OA) savings into fixed deposits at the bank paying 3.4 per cent per annum.

Amid the competition for cash, as savers turn to higher-yielding government bonds such as Treasury bills, banks are not sitting idle. OCBC on Nov 15 launched a 12-month fixed deposit product for CPF members, for sums of S$20,000 up to under S$1 million, under the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS).

Its offered interest is higher than the 2.5 per cent being earned for CPF OA savings beyond the first S$20,000, although that rate does not take into account the monthly interest that is lost when money is withdrawn from CPF.