Investors will be able to apply for Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) using their Supplementary Retirement Scheme funds with effect from Feb 1, 2019, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a media release on Monday (Dec 17).

The Supplementary Retirement Scheme is a voluntary scheme to encourage individuals to save for retirement, over and above their CPF savings. Similar to cash applications, the minimum application amount is S$500.

The S$100,000 individual limit for SSB will be also doubled from S$100,000 to S$200,000. From Feb 1, each investor will be able to apply for up to S$200,000 of SSB, taking into account purchases using cash and SRS funds.

“Since its launch in October 2015, the SSB programme has garnered approximately S$3.7 billion of investments from close to 100,000 individual investors. During this time, there have also been requests from the public to allow the use of SRS funds for the purchase of SSB,” said MAS.

“Taking into account public feedback, MAS has worked with the banks to enable SRS funds to be invested in SSB. This will expand the range of products available to SRS members and help them save and plan for retirement.”

In March 2019, MAS will also launch a My Savings Bonds portal to provide investors with a consolidated view of their SSB holdings purchased using both cash and SRS funds.

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OCBC’s head of treasury research and strategy said that the inclusion of SSB as one of the investment options for SRS funds will be beneficial given that the objective of SRS funds is targeted at retirement.

“The move will definitely be welcomed by individual Singaporean investors and likely lift overall demand for SSB,” said Ms Selena Ling.

“The rationale for investing idle funds remains intact even amid the ongoing financial market and interest rate gyrations.”

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