FAST bank transfers

[Beeroclock]

Finally a new innovation allowing interbank funds transfer instantaneously and free between 14 banks in Singapore, provided you have internet banking. Useful if you need to move funds around between different accounts. The previous 2-3 days wait with GIRO was quite annoying, and I'd wonder who is benefiting from the funds in this interim period, or why the justification for such inefficiency in this day & age. The FAST system started yesterday and I just tried it out, seems to work well !

[the lynx]

Finally a new innovation allowing interbank funds transfer instantaneously and free between 14 banks in Singapore, provided you have internet banking. Useful if you need to move funds around between different accounts. The previous 2-3 days wait with GIRO was quite annoying, and I'd wonder who is benefiting from the funds in this interim period, or why the justification for such inefficiency in this day & age. The FAST system started yesterday and I just tried it out, seems to work well !

Me too. Used it yesterday. Best part, it is free and the transaction completed within an hour (if not within minutes at the very least).

[Beeroclock]

Finally a new innovation allowing interbank funds transfer instantaneously and free between 14 banks in Singapore, provided you have internet banking. Useful if you need to move funds around between different accounts. The previous 2-3 days wait with GIRO was quite annoying, and I'd wonder who is benefiting from the funds in this interim period, or why the justification for such inefficiency in this day & age. The FAST system started yesterday and I just tried it out, seems to work well !

Me too. Used it yesterday. Best part, it is free and the transaction completed within an hour (if not within minutes at the very least).

yeah mine arrived in a few minutes. this is good progress, and what Singapore needs to stay at the forefront as a financial centre.

[Steve1960]

Its about time because for over a year now I have been sending money from my Singapore bank account to my UK bank account and providing I get the timing right the money arrives the same day.

If they can do that they ought to be able to do local bank to bank faster.

[MostlyHarmless]

It is not free forever, only until 30/6. "Normal" cost is 5 SGD per transaction (I am sure later they will find out a way to make both payer and payee pay and next year possible a yearly fee to enjoy the fast transfers, followed by every year a 30% increase in service fee).

[x9200]

This makes not too much sense as 1/same day transfer for $5 was already implemented many months before (at least for some banks).

[Beeroclock]

It is not free forever, only until 30/6. "Normal" cost is 5 SGD per transaction (I am sure later they will find out a way to make both payer and payee pay and next year possible a yearly fee to enjoy the fast transfers, followed by every year a 30% increase in service fee).

ah, there's the catch !

[the lynx]

It is not free forever, only until 30/6. "Normal" cost is 5 SGD per transaction (I am sure later they will find out a way to make both payer and payee pay and next year possible a yearly fee to enjoy the fast transfers, followed by every year a 30% increase in service fee).

ah, there's the catch !

Good (and free) things don't last forever eh?

[Beeroclock]

It is not free forever, only until 30/6. "Normal" cost is 5 SGD per transaction (I am sure later they will find out a way to make both payer and payee pay and next year possible a yearly fee to enjoy the fast transfers, followed by every year a 30% increase in service fee).

ah, there's the catch !

Good (and free) things don't last forever eh?

especially not from banks..... I be back to giro delays from July

[Beeroclock]

It is not free forever, only until 30/6. "Normal" cost is 5 SGD per transaction (I am sure later they will find out a way to make both payer and payee pay and next year possible a yearly fee to enjoy the fast transfers, followed by every year a 30% increase in service fee).

MostlyHarmless, what's your source for the 5 SGD normal fee to apply after 30/6 ? I couldn't find it myself. Did see an article somewhere saying corporate customers will be charged but retail customers to remain free. Also hear perhaps Citibank has specified free until 30/6 on it's online banking.

[x9200]

As I mentioned earlier, it would just make no sense to have such charge. OCBC and DBS has the service already for half a year or so charging exactly $5 for this so now they have announced to have it for free to make it chargeable again only after 3 months? This would look very bad.

[Girl_Next_Door]

Personally, I am not a huge fan of this. I wake up in the morning and noticed that there is an authorization pin sent to my mobile. I called the bank and realized that my credit card was compromised and fortunately, the amount was not huge. I was able to block the transaction to go through as it was an overnight transaction, and not an immediate transaction.

I have not had my banking account compromised before (touch wood) but the thought of having money transferred out and credited immediately, kind of scare me. Things can occur when I am sleeping and by the time I act on it, it may be too late. Of course, the bank will conduct a through investigation but this investigation can easily dragged on unnecessary and the ideal situation is not to have the funds get out of your account, too fast, in the first place.

[x9200]

But FAST is not for the credit cards. It is also not for international transfer. It works only between some banks in Singapore so I think it is pretty safe. I do not check my accounts on daily basis and the level of security (i.e. payee authorization) is similar so for me there is no difference.

Interestingly I just have one of my credit cards replaced as it looked they got compromised, both the main and the supplementary card at the same time. The cards have never been used together.

[Beeroclock]

Credit card security seems extremely lax compared to online banking nowadays where you have a physical passcode generator, sms pincode, etc etc. Any retail assistant will handle your credit card and can easily copy down the name/number/cvc while processing your payment unless you watch them closely.

Anyway regarding the security issue, the critical point I believe is provided you don't write down your password /pin, tell other people, or self-compromise the security etc, then it will be the bank's responsibility. So I guess they would not go ahead with this FAST unless they are satisfied with the risks.

[Girl_Next_Door]

Without disclosing the bank, I am aware of a certain local bank who has several customers whose accounts (not credit card) have been compromised. Most bank transfer takes 1 day (sometimes up to 2 days) for it to be completed. In addition, many banks have the options to allow you to receive a SMS if there is any transaction occurring in your account. Assuming you are sleeping at night, someone make a bank transfer to another bank account, you would only realize it in the morning, when you see a SMS. If it is a FAST transaction, the person would have withdraw the money and disappear. Although only a limited number of banks are in the FAST program, do remember that many are international or ASEAN banks, which also allows transfer of funds to other bank accounts in the region. Not every country have strict customer due diligence process as Singapore.