DBS Taiwan to sell new high-yield savings products

Move in response to customers who like to see their deposit rates surge in line with actions taken by the Taiwanese central bank.

DBS Bank has announced several high-yield New Taiwan dollar and foreign currency savings products for more conservative investors, in the midst of current global financial market volatility.

According to Kevin Tang, head of consumer banking at DBS, customers would like to see their deposit rates go up, in keeping with actions taken by the central bank, which has raised rates four times since June 2010.

Against this backdrop, DBS has announced an “incremental rate increase plan,” in which funds wired into the bank prior to Aug. 31 for a one-year deposit in New Taiwan dollars will be subject to a rate of 0.65 percent from the first to third months, 0.85 percent from the fourth to sixth months, and 2 percent from the seventh to 12th months, translating into an average one-year rate of 1.375 percent, higher than similar products in the market, according to a report in China Post.

At the same time, DBS has also unveiled a special foreign currency savings product offered from now till Aug. 31. Under the program, the depositor can open one-month and one-year savings accounts in either the U.S. dollar or the Australian dollar, and receive a rate of 2 percent and 1.1 percent for the U.S. dollar one-month and one-year accounts, or 6 percent and 5.15 percent for the Australian dollar one-month and one-year accounts.