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With the aver­age sav­ings banks interest rate at a low of 0.14% p.a. in July 2010, investors have been turn­ing to fixed depos­its of ten­ure 1 year and above. Bond of 10 years ten­or is also offer­ing good returns that beat the aver­age infla­tion rate of 3%.

May­bank offers 0.75% p.a. for a min­im­um depos­it of $10,000 of 1 year ten­ure. CIMB Bank offers 1.3% p.a. for a 24-months fixed depos­it with min­im­um amount of $10,000. OCBC Bank pays 0.688% p.a. for a 9‑month time depos­it or 0.788% p.a. for a 14-month term.

For investors, espe­cially insti­tu­tion­al investors, long ten­or bonds are in hot favour. In par­tic­u­lar, Tem­asek Hold­ings offer of 40 years ten­or with 4.2% p.a. interest were snapped up in few hours. Below are some of the bond issues in the past 2 months.

Altern­at­ively, investors can also con­sider NTUC Income Growth Plan of 5–10 years term that offer guar­an­teed interest rate of 1–2.x% and additon­al bonus declared. The total return thus range from 3–4.x% p.a.. Growth Plan also provides per­son­al acci­dent cov­er­age of 2 times the Sum Assured.

Source : The Straits Times, 25 Aug 2010 & 26 Aug 2010