Best savings accounts in Singapore with highest interest rates (February 2024)

So far, 2024 has been pretty hard on our bank accounts. Between the GST hike and an impending recession, it looks like our wallets are taking quite a hit this year, even with the government payouts to aid us.

It's times like these when saving your money is more important than ever. One easy way to do this is through a savings account. When you open a savings account with a bank, you deposit money into it and let that money earn interest. You'll enjoy higher interest rates on a savings account than you would on your normal account (called a checking account).

However, not all savings accounts are made equal. Different banks offer different interest rates and different minimum sums. So to help you out, we've compiled the best savings accounts in Singapore with the highest interest rates in 2024 for different personal and financial needs.

1. At a glance: Best savings accounts in Singapore with highest interest rates (Feb 2024)

Most savings accounts require you to jump through a whole bunch of hoops to enjoy their best rates. But let's be realistic here. Most of us aren't going to be taking a home loan, burying insurance from the bank, and investing with the bank — and certainly not all at the same time. What will you earn if you only credit your salary and spend using the bank's debit/credit card? Here's our realistic summary:

Note: The table above assumes you earn at least $3,000 a month, spend $500 a month, and have a regular banking relationship. If you earn more, spend more, or are a premier or private banking client, you may enjoy better rates. Read the individual sections on each savings account below to find out more.

1. Citi Wealth First Account

The Citi Wealth First Account has a simple mechanic for calculating its total interest rate: base interest (0.01 per cent) + bonus interest (up to 7.50 per cent).

Its base interest starts at 0.01 per cent for everyone, whether you're a Citibanking, Citi Priority, Citigold, or Citigold Private Client customer. That's the lowest base interest rate out of all the savings accounts on this list.

Next, beef up that measly 0.01 per cent up with bonus interest rates. You get different bonus rates depending on which of the following categories you fulfil:

• Spend (+1.5%): Spend at least $250/month on your Citibank Debit Mastercard.
• Invest (+1.5%): Purchase one or more new single lump sum investments totalling at least $50,000/month. Investments can include Unit Trust, Structured Notes and Bonds.
• Insure (+1.5%): Purchase one or more new single premium policies totalling at least $50,000/month.
• Borrow (+1.5%): Take up a new home loan of at least $500,000. 
• Save (+1.5%): Deposit more money into your account, increasing your account’s average daily balance by at least $3,000 from the previous month’s.

If you fulfil all of the transaction categories above, the maximum interest rate you can get with the Citi Wealth First Account is a generous 7.51 per cent. That's one of the highest rates among the savings accounts this month. Plus, it applies to the first $50,000 to $150,000 in your account, and not just the first $25,000 after the $100,000 mark or something like that. That means 7.51 per cent p.a. is the effective interest rate!

Realistically speaking, most of us can only deposit our salaries in the account, i.e. "Save", and "Spend". If you only fulfil these two criteria, you'll earn 3.01 per cent p.a. interest on the Citi Weath First Account. That's $1,505 earned per year from your first $50,000.

The only advantage to starting a Citigold or Citigold Private Client banking relationship is that the bonus interest rates can apply to a larger sum of money. For Citibanking and Citi Priority customers, bonus interest rates are applied to only the first $50,000, according to the Citi Wealth First T&Cs (Clause 7). This increases to $100,000 for Citigold and $150,000 for Citigold Private Client.  

However, you'll need to maintain $250,000 in your account for Citigold, and $1,500,000 for Citigold Private Client. If you fall below these thresholds, the bonus 7.51 per cent will only apply to the first $50,000 just like for everyone else.

Citi Wealth First Account 

• Minimum balance: $15,000
• Fall below fee: $15
• Bonus interest cap: $50,000-$150,000

2. Standard Chartered Bonus Saver account interest rates

The Standard Chartered Bonus Saver savings account currently offers the highest maximum interest rate on a savings account: 7.88  per cent p.a.. It isn't easy to get there-you'd need to fulfil these five requirements: credit your salary, spend on your credit card, pay three bills, invest, and buy insurance. But on the plus side, the 7.88 per cent p.a. is applied to the entire sum of $100,000, whereas accounts like the UOB One savings account are only going to give the highest interest rate to smaller sum.

Moreover, the Standard Chartered Bonus Saver savings account occupies a niche: It gives you pretty high bonus interest just for spending tons of money.

Pay three bills online or via GIRO and you'll get an additional 0.33 per cent interest. Spend at least $2,000 on your SCB Bonus$aver credit or debit card and you'll already get 2.05 per cent p.a. bonus interest on your savings. Not bad if your card's main function is to pay for your kid's tuition fees, dental checkups, condo MCST fees and what-not.

On top of that, crediting your salary will get you an additional 2.50 per cent interest. However, you have to be earning at least $3,000 per month to qualify for the bonus interest.

If you only credit your salary and spend $500 a month, you'll enjoy an interest rate of 3.80 per cent p.a.. While that's a far cry from the advertised maximum interest of 7.88 per cent Standard Chartered offers, it's still higher than most fixed deposit rates and your money is a lot more liquid!

Standard Chartered Bonus Saver

• Minimum balance: $3,000
• Fall below fee: $5
• Bonus interest cap: $100,000

3. UOB One savings account interest rates

The winning quality of the UOB One account is that its criteria to snag the highest interest rate is easy peasy. You only need to fulfil these two requirements:

• Credit your salary to the UOB One account via GIRO/PayNow
• Spend at least S$500 spend per month on an eligible UOB Card

The eligible cards you can hit the $500 spend on are:

• UOB One Card
• UOB Lady’s Card
• UOB EVOL Card
• UOB One Debit Visa Card
• UOB One Debit Mastercard
• UOB Lady’s Debit Card
• UOB Mighty FX Debit Card

Don't have a fixed monthly salary? You can still get up to 4 per cent p.a. with the UOB one account if you pay 3 bills by GIRO. This is great for those without a regular pay check, such as freelancers, retirees or homemakers. If you go for this option, the interest rate rises with every additional $30,000 or $15,000 in your UOB One account, up to $75,000.

UOB One Account effective interest rates (EIR)

Everyone is enticed by the 7.8 per cent p.a. carrot that UOB dangles, but note that this is only applied on the $25,000 after your first $75,000 — unlike the Standard Chartered Bonus Saver, which applies 7.88 per cent p.a. on the full first $100,000 you bank with them. Here's the effective interest rate (the true interest rate on the full amount you deposit in your UOB One Account) you'll earn with different account balances and fulfilling different criteria:

Simply for crediting your salary and spending $500/month on your credit card, the UOB One Account's five per cent interest rate p.a. is the highest out there. Comparatively, Standard Chartered will give you 3.85 per cent p.a. to fulfil the same criteria, or 4.6 per cent p.a. if your credit card spending is at least $2,000/month.

The UOB One Account is still the best choice if all you want to do is credit your salary and spend on a credit card, but don't be fooled into thinking you're getting 7.8 per cent p.a..

UOB One savings account

• Minimum balance: $1,000
• Fall below fee: $5 (Waived for first 6 months for accounts opened online)
• Bonus interest cap: $100,000

4. OCBC 360 savings account interest rates

The OCBC 360 savings account starts at a base interest of 0.05 per cent p.a., and gives you varying bonus rates for crediting your salary, spending, growing your balance, insuring and investing. If you fulfil several of these requirements, this is what your maximum Effective Interest Rate (EIR) will be on your first $100,000:

• Salary + Save: 4.05% p.a.
• Salary + Save + Spend: 4.65% p.a.
• Salary + Save + Spend + Insure / Invest: 6.15% p.a.
• Salary + Save + Spend + Insure + Invest: 7.65% p.a.

The OCBC 360 is more complicated than the UOB One, but also more flexible in that there is no one mandatory requirement. This account makes sense if you're earning just enough to meet the $1,800 minimum, and don't want to jump through any further hoops. You'll earn a bonus two per cent for not doing much else than crediting your salary to the OCBC 360 account.

You get a bonus 1.2% every month that your account balance increases by $500 or more, so that might encourage you to save more. 

OCBC 360

• Minimum balance: $1,000
• Fall below fee: $2. Waived for first year
• Bonus interest cap: $100,000

5. Bank of China SmartSaver account interest rates

The Bank of China SmartSaver account is a decently good choice for high earners. They offer probably the highest interest rates in Singapore for those who take home a monthly salary of at least $6,000. You get a cool 2.6 per cent p.a. just for opening the account and crediting your salary to it. If raking up a credit card bill of at least $1,500 is no problem for you, you'll get an additional 0.8 per cent bonus interest.

The Bank of China SmartSaver account also awards a wealth bonus of 2.4 per cent per annum for 12 consecutive months. However, to qualify, you'll have to put down a pretty hefty sum on their insurance products. We're talking a minimum of $12,000 in annual premiums with a 10-year premium term.

If you max out the bonus interest in all categories, you can enjoy a rate of up to 6.7 per cent p.a. on your first $100,000 saved with the Bank of China. On the other hand, let's say you only credit your salary (which is below $6,000) and spend ($500 a month). You'll earn an interest rate of 2.5 per cent on your first $100,000.

Bank of China SmartSaver 

• Minimum balance: $200 (Maintain at least $1,500 to enjoy bonus interests)
• Fall below fee: $3
• Bonus interest cap: $100,000

6. Maybank Save Up Programme interest rates

The Maybank Save Up Programme lets you choose from 9 different Maybank products/services to get bonus interest:

• GIRO payment (min. $300) OR salary credit (min. $2,000)
• Credit card spending (min. $500) on Maybank Platinum Visa Card and/or Horizon Visa Signature Card
• Invest in structured deposit (min. $30,000)
• Invest in unit trust (min. $25,000)
• Buy insurance (min. $5,000 annually)
• Home loan (min. $200,000)
• Renovation loan (min. $10,000)
• Car loan (min. $35,000)
• Education loan (min. $10,000)

The Maybank Save Up Programme starts with a higher base interest rate than most other savings accounts. However, the bonus interest rates aren't competitive unless you fulfil three transactions. Assuming you hit three transactions and start with a bonus interest rate of 0.25 per cent, you'll get 4.3 per cent on your first $50,000 and 5.5 per cent p.a. on the next $25,000. For comparison, the OCBC 360 account will give you 4.65 per cent p.a. for hitting the three categories of crediting your salary, saving, and spending on your credit card.

Maybank Save Up Programme

• Minimum balance: $1,000
• Fall below fee: $2. Waived for individuals below age 25.
• Bonus interest cap: $50,000

7. DBS Multiplier savings account interest rates

The rates in the table above apply to you if you credit your salary/dividends/SGFinDex to any DBS or POSB account (yes, it doesn't need to be your DBS Multiplier account!). You need to have at least $500 worth of transactions from one or more of the following categories:

• Credit card or PayLah spending (no minimum) 
• Home loan (cash + CPF components counted)
• Selected insurance policies (life insurance, critical illness, endowment plans and selected single premium policies)
• Selected investments (regular savings plan, unit trust, online equities trade, digiPortfolio or bonds, and structured products)

The more categories you hit, the higher bonus interest rates you get.

What if you don't have any DBS credit card, insurance, or investments? Unfortunately, the bonus interest rates aren't as high, at 1.5 per cent p.a. on the first $50,000. And while you don't need to credit your salary to a DBS/POSB account, DBS will still require you to at least use PayLah!. The good news is that there isn't a minimum amount for PayLah! spend. Just use it to pay for anything, even if it's a $1+ cup of kopi at your local coffeeshop. Easy!

The DBS Multiplier account makes it easy to earn bonus interest with its zero minimum spend transaction categories and the flexibility to credit your salary into any DBS account, not necessarily the DBS Multiplier.

However, DBS Multiplier account interest rates start pretty low. If you don't credit your salary to a DBS/POSB account, your interest rates max out at 0.40 per cent p.a.. 

In fact, DBS Multiplier interest rates are nowhere near even the one per cent p.a. mark unless Option 1 applies to you, i.e. you have other DBS/POSB transactions. Comparatively, CIMB FastSaver's interest rates start at 1.50 per cent p.a. for just opening the account and depositing a minimum of $1,000.

DBS Multiplier

• Minimum balance: $3,000
• Fall below fee: $5. Waived for first-time customers & those up to age 29.
• Bonus interest cap: $100,000

8. CIMB FastSaver savings account interest rates

The CIMB FastSaver account is the easiest savings account to earn money with this month. They're running a promotion that lets new-to-bank customers earn up to 3.50 per cent p.a. with a minimum deposit of S$1,000. Simply maintain or increase your month-end balance, and start accruing interest!

The effective interest rate is 2.5 per cent p.a. on your first $75,000. Again, there are no conditions to hit a certain credit card spend or requirements buy insurance to enjoy this rate.

Admittedly, 3.50 per cent p.a. interest is not a lot. But we have to give the CIMB FastSaver account credit where it's due — it's the least headache-inducing of all the savings accounts to have.

Their mechanic is as simple as it gets: deposit money, earn interest. The only requirement is to maintain at least $1,000 in your account for you to earn the advertised interest rates. You can do the least with CIMB FastSaver's account and still reap the benefits of its rather generous interest rates. 

This account is also perfect for most young adults starting out their career, because of the very low "minimum" balance of $1,000 and no fall below fee.

CIMB FastSaver 

• Minimum balance: $1,000
• Fall below fee: None!
• Bonus interest cap: $75,000

9. POSB SAYE savings account interest rates

What if you want to open a savings account, but don't want to do anything but credit money into it? The best zero-effort contender is the POSB SAYE (Save As You Earn) account.

You need to set up a standing order to credit a fixed amount every month (anything from $50 to $3,000) into your SAYE account, then resist the urge to touch it for two years. As a reward for your restraint, you earn 3.5 per cent p.a..

Note that it's a whole lot less liquid than any other savings account, so for the love of God, please don't put your emergency stash in here.

10. HSBC Everyday Global Account

The HSBC Everyday Global Account is a multi-currency account that also doubles up as a savings account…masquerading as an interest/cashback-earning hybrid. Let me explain.

Unlike the other savings accounts on this list, the HSBC Everyday Global Account doesn't stack bonus interest the more you spend/save/borrow/invest/insure. Instead, the account works hand in hand with the HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme to earn you one per cent bonus interest and one per cent cashback per year when you qualify for the HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme.

To qualify for the HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme, you need to:

1. Deposit at least $2,000 (for Personal Banking customers) or $5,000 (for Premier customers) into the account
2. Make five eligible transactions, with no minimum amount. These can be any combination of the following types:
   1. Transactions made with a HSBC personal credit card
   2. Transactions made with a HSBC Everyday Global Debit Card
   3. GIRO bill payments
   4. Fund transfers

Qualifying for the Everyday+ Rewards Programme gets you:

• 1% cashback on your HSBC credit card/HSBC Everyday Global Debit Card transactions and GIRO bill payments (capped at $300/month for Personal Banking customers, $500/month for HSBC Premier customers)
• 1% bonus interest on the money you top up into your account each month (capped at $300/month)

On top of the interest and cashback, HSBC will give you one-time cash bonuses of up to $150 (for Personal banking customers) or $300 (for Premier banking customers) when you deposit at least $100,000 (Personal banking) / $200,000 (Premier Banking) and meets the eligibility criteria above for the first six months.

HSBC C Lunar New Year Everyday Global Account Bonus Interest Promotion

This Lunar New Year season, HSBC is offering a total of 3.60 per cent p.a. interest on your the money you top up into your account. To register, SMS the following to 74722 by Feb 29, 2024:

EGA<space>First 9-digit of their Everyday Global Account number (e.g. EGA 123456789)

Register successfully before the promotions ends to enjoy bonus interest for both February and March 2024. Together with the one per cent p.a. interest you'll get from qualifying fror the HSBC Everyday+ Rewards Programme, that's 4.6 per cent interest.

You'll also get bonus cash gifts in the form of "hongbaos":

1. Lucky Hongbao of S$8 for every S$50,000 Top-Up, and
2. Bonus Hongbao at Top-Up amounts of S$300,000, S$500,000 and S$2,000,000.

ALSO READ: Best fixed deposit rates in Singapore (January 2024): Rates up to 3.8%, minimum deposits from $500

This article was first published in MoneySmart.