Investors will be able to invest in Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) using their Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) funds starting from 1 February 2019 with the Individual Limit for SSB will be raised to S$200,000.
This was announced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Monday (17 December), adding that investors will be able to apply for SSB using their SRS funds with effect from 1 February 2019 and may submit applications through the internet banking portals of their respective SRS Operators (DBS/POSB, OCBC and UOB).
Similar to cash applications, the minimum application amount is S$500 and a S$2 transaction fee will be deducted from investors’ SRS accounts for each application, MAS noted.
According to the authority, the SSB programme has garnered approximately S$3.7 billion of investments from close to 100,000 individual investors since its launch in October 2015.
MAS shared that there have also been requests from the public to allow the use of SRS funds for the purchase of SSB.
Taking into account public feedback, MAS has worked with the banks to enable SRS funds to be invested in SSB, which will expand the range of products available to SRS members and help them save and plan for retirement.
With the inclusion of SRS funds, MAS said that it will also raise the Individual Limit for SSB from S$100,000 to S$200,000. This means that each investor will be able to apply for up to S$200,000 of SSB, taking into account both SSB purchased using cash and SRS funds from 1 February 2019.
To provide investors with a consolidated view of their SSB holdings, MAS noted that it will launch a My Savings Bonds portal in March 2019. The portal will allow investors to view their total SSB holdings, purchased using both cash and SRS funds.