smoulder wrote: ↑Wed, 23 Mar 2022 9:47 pm
malcontent wrote: ↑Wed, 23 Mar 2022 7:47 pm
JWNYsg wrote: ↑Wed, 23 Mar 2022 6:22 pm
Blasphemy! OCBC is the safest bank in the world
OCBC has always been the most “fast and loose” among the 3, last time they opened an account for me with just a SVP — I’m sure they won’t do that today with all the nasty KYC stuff post-911. But they are the most gangster of the 3, once they changed the T&C on my account and didn’t tell me, charged me a fee and refuse to waive.
UOB is famous for unnecessary paperwork and going beyond stickler for meaningless details, but often the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Also, you ask one question to different people and get different answers, all try to act smart even they dunno.
DBS is slow and tedious, but they are at least practical and reliable about most things, despite being the least flexible of the 3. It’s like dealing with a government agency. You can just have to learn how to be the round peg to fit in their round hole. Square cannot.
I work for one of these 3 banks. I won't say which one lol. As an employee, I am not quite happy with what I see when I go to the branch.
Having said that, there's the other side which is the amount of work we do along with the business units to do away with processes that involve humans and their inefficiencies. IT systems that automate even things like customer on boarding and loans and generally make the customer experience more seamless as long as the customer is willing to use his mobile phone instead of going to the branch. And I will say that the banks are making some progress. So maybe you guys need to stop being so old school
Is that why they still have passbooks here? Old school customers? I hadn’t seen a passbook since I was a very young kid and was shocked that they still have them here… nothing short of astounding.
But I don’t deny progress is being made. The SMS queuing at DBS is huge. I can get a Q number well before I leave and it’s close to my turn when I arrive at the bank. For me, that is real progress that is tangible.
However, I almost never need to visit a branch anymore. I used to regularly get a USD demand draft issued which was once the cheapest way to transfer money to the US. Once the DD was issued, I can deposit it instantly using my phone’s camera and the money will be in my US account the very next day. Hmmm, I wonder if a local bank that can do that?
Nowadays I just use Wise, it’s slightly better than DD or even the “free” TT offered by DBS (they get you on the FX rate). Wise charges roughly 0.5% including both the exchange (versus spot) and the transfer. DBS board rate is right at 0.6% for USD plus 1/8% for the DD, but even the free TT is worse than Wise because of the 0.6%.
I think the neo-banks are coming, they have some pretty slick features and apps. Also, when you see the stuff that M1 Finance is doing, wow, that is really taking it to the next level. We’ll have to see if the big banks can keep up!