Just yesterday I was calling DBS in Hong Kong, trying to find out how to open a new savings account there and transfer some money over. The silly lady on the phone asked me why I wanted to do this, since I am already a DBS customer in Singapore and am neither working or living in Hong Kong."Because the HK government guarantees all bank deposits in Hong Kong, and the Singapore government doesn't," I replied. Doesn't she read the newspapers?
However, today's news is that the Singapore government has also decided to guarantee all deposits, in any currency, placed with banks in Singapore. Therefore you won't have to perform any of those $20,000 tricks which I discussed in my earlier post here.
Side note: Now that the government has given such a guarantee, does the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation still have a reason to exist? Yes, because the government's guarantee is only up to 31 Dec 2010. However, till then it does seem that the SDIC has no practical significance and will fade away into obscurity.