Recently received the following update:
With effect from 2 January 2019, please note that the following changes will be made to your Citi MaxiGain Savings Account.
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A base interest rate equivalent to 70% of the 1-month Singapore Interbank Offer Rate will be paid on the first S$150,000 of your MaxiGain account
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A daily end of day balance of at least S$70,000 must be maintained to earn base interest
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Bonus interest rate will be paid on the first S$150,000 of your MaxiGain account
Source: https://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/deposits/mxgn-savacc.htm
Basically, for accounts below S$70,000, the maximum interest rate is now 1.2% provided there are no withdrawals. Hence, effectively it is like a Fixed Deposit with 1.2% interest with the slight benefit that you can still perform withdrawals if you want, but the interest rate drops to 0.6% (6 counters).
Previously, the interest rate was exceptionally fantastic at around 2.2% (depends on the SIBOR rate). This fantastic rate is still available for amounts of S$70,000 and above.
Possibly a short term fixed deposit like CIMB or ICBC may be a better choice now, for amounts below S$70,000. Both CIMB and ICBC have offers of around 1.9% interest rate for their fixed deposits.
Read our previous post: Best “Do-nothing” Saving Accounts in Singapore (Better than Fixed Deposit)
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