Top Fixed Deposit Rates in Singapore offer 3.20% yield – Higher than T-Bills? Where to park cash for highest yield today? (Dec 2024)

Investors hoping for a continued pickup in T-Bills yields would have been disappointed with this week’s T-Bills auction.

A whopping 27% rise in demand led to a renewed fall in T-Bills yields to 3.0% (vs 3.08%) the previous auction.

At 3.0%, T-Bills are still an okay buy, but not necessarily a must buy.

And there are a lot of other instruments out there (like fixed deposits and money market funds) that will be competitive with T-Bills at 3.0%.

3 things I wanted to discuss today:

1. T-Bills yields fall to 3.0% on very high demand
2. What are the Top Fixed Deposit Rates in Singapore today (Dec 2024)?
3. Where would I put my cash today?

T-Bills yields drop back down to 3.0% at this week’s auction

First off let’s touch quickly on this week’s T-Bills auction.

Application amounts rose a staggering 27% from $13.7 billion the previous auction to $17.4 billion this time around.

This led to a renewed drop in T-Bills yields.

T-Bills yields have been picking up for the past 2 auctions, but has since fallen back down to 3.0% (was 3.08% the previous auction).

Top Fixed Deposit Rates in Singapore offer 3.20% yield (Dec 2024)

The full table is further below in the article, but I’ve summarised the best interest rates for the 3, 6 and 12 month tenures below.

The 3 and 12 months rates are generally more attractive than the 6 months tenure (for now), which is why in my view you either want to go ultra short duration (<3 months) or go longer duration (12 months or more), and skip the 6 month duration.

Tenure	Best fixed deposit interest rate (Dec 2024)	Bank
3 months	3.00%	ICBC
6 months	2.90%	Maybank
12 months	3.20%	DBS/POSB

DBS offers the highest Fixed Deposit rate in the market today?! Up to 3.3% for seniors!

Funnily enough, the most attractive fixed deposit rate today is 3.20% for 12 months, with DBS / POSB Bank.

Note that if you are above 55, DBS will actually give you a bonus rate of 3.30%. 

This is a pretty good deal, and if you haven’t done it already it’s well worth your time.

The catch is that the maximum you can deposit is $19,999.

And you cannot be cheeky and split it up into 2 fixed deposits, because once you hit the $19,999 quota for your account anything beyond that will earn 0.05% (yes I know because I tried it myself).

Launch of Dividend Investing MasterClass – Massive Launch Discount!

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Whatever your stage of life, if you’ve ever wanted to build a dividend portfolio, this is the course for you.

We’re launching with a special launch promo – a huge discount from the official course price, and complimentary access to FH Premium thrown in!

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Best Fixed Deposit Rates yield 3.15% if you deposit with Syfe Cash+ (to access institutional fixed deposit rates)

The rates above are assuming that you deposit with the bank directly as a retail customer.

Another way to do it is to use Syfe Cash+ Guaranteed.

The way this works is that you park the cash with Syfe, who will then deposit the cash into an institutional fixed deposit account. 

This allows you access to institutional fixed deposit rates.

These are the latest interest rates from Syfe Cash+ below:

• 1 months – 3.1%
• 3 months – 3.1%
• 6 months – 2.9%
• 12 months – 2.75%

It’s higher than retail fixed deposits at the short end (less than 6 months) and worth looking at if you’re into squeezing out every single bp for your cash.

But at the long end (6 months and 12 months) actually fixed deposits are more attractive, and are risk free as well.

Note that Syfe Cash+ is not SDIC insured, but given that the underlying is fixed deposits risk should be on the low side (but not risk free). 

Maybank’s 3.15% headline fixed deposit rate is a promotional rate

Now every time I write one of these articles someone will tell me that Maybank pays 3.15% on their fixed deposit.

Just to clarify, yes 3.15% is the headline rate.

But for every $10,000 you park in fixed deposit, you need to park $1,000 into a Maybank account.

And if the $1,000 earns 0% interest rate, then it brings the effective interest rate down to 2.86%.

So how attractive Maybank is really varies for each investor.

Comparing interest rates for T-Bills vs Fixed Deposits vs Syfe Cash+ Guaranteed across all tenures (Dec 2024)

I’ve tabulated the interest rates for the 3 cash options below.

DBS’s 3.20% for a 12 month fixed deposit continues to look like an outlier, and it looks a bit like they deliberately left it there as a carrot for retail investors.

	3 months	6 months	12 months	Risk Free
T-Bills yields	NA	3.00%	2.80%	Yes
Fixed Deposit (direct to bank)	3.00%	2.90%	3.20%	Yes (if below $100,000 SDIC limit)
Syfe Cash+ Guaranteed (Institutional Fixed Deposit Rates)	3.10%	2.90%	2.75%	No
Money Market Funds	~3.0%			No

Best Fixed Deposit Rates yield 3.20% – if you deposit directly with the bank (as of Dec 2024)

The full list of Fixed Deposit rates is set out below (bold being the most attractive for each tenure).

After the table I’ll share my views on:

1. Interest rates have generally stabilised across the board since the Trump win?
2. Where would I put my cash today?

Bank	Interest rate per annum	Tenure	Minimum amount
DBS/POSB	3.20%	12 months	S$1,000 (max S$19,999)
	3.10%	9 months	S$1,000 (max S$19,999)
Bank of China	3.00% (mobile placement)	3 months	S$500
	2.75% (mobile placement)	6 months	S$500
	2.55% (mobile placement)	9 months	S$500
	2.60% (mobile placement)	12 months	S$500
ICBC	3.00% (mobile placement)	3 months	S$500
	2.45% (mobile placement)	6 months	S$500
Maybank	2.90% (mobile placement)	6 months	S$20,000
RHB	2.90% (mobile placement)	3 months	S$20,000
	2.90% (mobile placement)	6 months	S$20,000
	2.90% (mobile placement)	12 months	S$20,000
Hong Leong Finance	2.80%(mobile placement)	7/8 months	S$50,000
	2.70%(mobile placement)	10/11 months	S$50,000
CIMB	2.75%	3/6 months	S$10,000
	2.55%	9/12 months	S$10,000
OCBC	2.60% (mobile placement)	6 months	S$30,000
Standard Chartered	2.55%	6 months	S$25,000
UOB	2.50%	6 months	S$10,000 (fresh funds)
	2.30%	10 months	S$10,000 (fresh funds)
HSBC	2.45%	3 months	S$30,000
	2.35%	6 months	S$30,000
Citibank	2.40%	3/6 months	S$50,000
SBI	2.25%	6 months	S$5,000
	2.00%	12 months	S$5,000

Interest rates have generally stabilised across the board since the Trump win?

Just for reference, these were the same interest rates last month.

If you compare with the rates above, you’ll find that they are very similar, and that interest rates generally have remained remarkably stable for the past 3 – 4 weeks, despite all the movement in financial markets.

	3 months	6 months	12 months	Risk Free
T-Bills yields	NA	3.07%	2.80%	Yes
Fixed Deposit (direct to bank)	3.00%	2.90%	3.20%	Yes (if below $100,000 SDIC limit)
Syfe Cash+ Guaranteed (Institutional Fixed Deposit Rates)	3.10%	2.90%	2.75%	No
Money Market Funds	~3.1%			No

Market continues to price about 3 rate cuts over the next 12 months, no material change for now.

As for long term interest rates – you can see how they went up quite sharply after the Trump win, but has since come back down after the announcement of Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary.

I wrote a lengthy article on FH Premium this week on the implications, but long and short is that I really like this pick (Bessent is a macro guy who broke the Bank of England together with Soros and Stanley Druckenmiller), and I think Bessent has what it takes to walk the tightrope required from the next Treasury Secretary – and markets clearly agree if you judge by the reaction from the long end.

Where would I put my cash today?

For now at least, I still think you either want to park at the ultra short end (1 – 3 months), or you take on slightly more duration (1 year+).

Generally speaking I have primarily been parking my cash in:

1. Ultra short term instruments (stuff like UOB One, Money market funds (like MariInvest) or fintech plays (like Chocolate Finance/GXS/FD) on the short end
2. And a bit more duration (2 – 3 years) on the long(er) end for higher yield (PIMCO GIS Income Fund for example)

(1) gives me the liquidity at a decent yield, while (2) gives me higher yield (but with the potential drawback of needing to leave the money locked in).

Some potential options below:

UOB One, Money market fund instruments (like MariInvest) or fintech plays (like Chocolate Finance/GXS/FD) on the short end

I’ve maxxed out UOB One Account, which pays 4.0% on the first $150,000.

I also use MariInvest which is a money market fund that pays about 3.0% over the past 30 days for me.

It’s definitely come down because of the rate cuts, but for something that is pretty low risk and with good liquidity (first $10,000 can be withdrawn instantly, rest is T+1 liquidity), it’s still decent.

Alternatively, there’s stuff like Chocolate Finance that even after the drop in rates, will pay about 3.6% on the first $20,000.

While GXS is paying 3.18% for 3 months:

There is some investor discretion required here as unlike T-Bills, not all the instruments above (eg. Chocolate Finance / money market funds) are risk free, while DBS/GXS will be risk free as long as you stay within SDIC limits.

Singapore Savings Bonds are not that attractive

Singapore Savings Bonds are only yielding 2.73% for the first year, so I don’t think they’re all that attractive to be honest.

For more duration – Bond Funds

For more duration, you can consider buying a bond fund.

But bond funds are quite a complex instrument, and not for everyone.

Because if interest rates go up, you can suffer capital losses.

And there is no way to hold to maturity as the bond fund will automatically reinvest proceeds, so the timing at which you sell matters too.

I wrote quite a few articles on this in the past, and do check them out for more information (see here or here).

Launch of Dividend Investing MasterClass – Massive Launch Discount!

I’ve been working on this the past 3 years, and it’s finally done – the Dividend Investing MasterClass.

The Dividend Investing MasterClass is a complete all in one course.

That teaches you the fundamentals on constructing a dividend portfolio – to achieve the cash flow you need to achieve financial freedom, while managing risk.

Whatever your stage of life, if you’ve ever wanted to build a dividend portfolio, this is the course for you.

We’re launching with a special launch promo – a huge discount from the official course price, and complimentary access to FH Premium thrown in!

Check out more details here.