Singapore, 5 December. In June last year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) called on major banks active in the retail market to put together a Basic Bank Account (BBA). Increasing competition had put pressure on these banks to recover some of the cost of providing banking services to small depositors. With a BBA in place, banks cannot opt out of servicing the basic banking needs of lower income Singaporeans.

MAS welcomes ABS' announcement of the features of the BBA. The 22 transactions provided in the BBA are reasonable, and should be adequate for the basic banking needs of lower-income Singaporeans. It is commendable that ABS sought feedback from stakeholder groups before finalising the features of the BBA.

"We applaud the banks' commitment to guarantee small depositors access to basic banking services for a low and affordable fee," said Ravi Menon, Assistant Managing Director (Complex Institutions) of MAS.

"Small depositors will now have more choice as, in addition to the local banks, five major Qualifying Full Banks (QFBs) have also agreed to support this initiative," added Mr Menon.

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