ICICI UK v ICICI Singapore

eeja

Rates offered are now unified.
I called them in Singapore to ask why the much higher interest rates they offered there were no longer available and they said that the UK office had complained about this to them and Mumbai Head office decided not to allow Singapore to offer rates higher than those at the UK office, probably because of the postings on this forum which had made people aware of the huge rate differential. .
I had been posting for some time about this discrepancy and hope that more than a few moneysavers were able to benefit by the info provided and now enjoy a return up to 20 percent higher. Anyhow just want to inform moneysavers that they've sadly missed the boat and its now too late !

KingL

eeja wrote: »

....and hope that more than a few moneysavers were able to benefit by the info provided and now enjoy a return up to 20 percent higher.

Just out of interest, would anybody who opted to open an ICICI Singapore account as a result of postings on this board be kind enought to post here to say so?..

thanks

NonGeographicalMan

I would only ask if 20% more interest is worth the possible risk of losing all your money if ICICI goes belly up and you do not have the FSCS to come along and bail you out.

Singapore may bail out its own citizens with deposits in an Indian bank that goes bust but do you really expect them to bail our foreign depositors too?

eeja

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I would only ask if 20% more interest is worth the possible risk of losing all your money if ICICI goes belly up and you do not have the FSCS to come along and bail you out.

Singapore may bail out its own citizens with deposits in an Indian bank that goes bust but do you really expect them to bail our foreign depositors too?

Nothing to do with citizenship ! FSCS guantees the savings accounts at UK banks of savers of every nationality . Ditto Singapore.
AND by the way for all those moaning about deposits in Singapore not being as safe as in the UK , they should know that the Foreign exchange reserves of Singapore are ...WAIT FOR IT.....
THREE TIMES HIGHER than those of the UK . AND in addition Singapore has ZERO external debt (unlike the UK) So where is your money safer ?

NonGeographicalMan

But in the case of Icesave, the Icelandic government decided not to pay out on their glossy looking compensation scheme to foreigners.

Try having your money frozen for 6 weeks like I have just done and also for 2 days looking at losing potentially 50% of it and you may come to a different view as to whether scrambling around for another 0.5% interest is actually worth it.

KingL

Surely, this all rather academic now since the preferential rate from Singapore is no longer in existence?

eeja

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

But in the case of Icesave, the Icelandic government decided not to pay out on their glossy looking compensation scheme to foreigners.

Try having your money frozen for 6 weeks like I have just done and also for 2 days looking at losing potentially 50% of it and you may come to a different view as to whether scrambling around for another 0.5% interest is actually worth it.

For heavens sake please do not speak of Singapore and Iceland in the same breath in this context. They are both islands and that's about it.

Geographically and literally they are a world apart also, one being near the Equator and the other near the North Pole.

Singapore is Triple AAA rated and a Commonwealth country, a first world nation currently no 1 in the honest non corrupt league enjoying the highest possible reputation all around the world and especially in finance..The country has ZERO debt and $150 billion of reserves.

Iceland on the other hand is BUST and has ZERO reserves.
Although a delightful country has fish as its main and almost sole export.( Excluding of course the late great Magnus Magnusson ! )

NonGeographicalMan

eeja wrote: »

Singapore is Triple AAA rated and a Commonwealth country, a first world nation

Iceland was also highly credit rated and also considered a first world nation not to mention a member of the wider european economic area (i.e. same status as Switzerland).

The point about Singapore is that if it does get in to trouble I wouldn't expect the government there to give two hoots for the savings of white Europeans and nor would I expect the British government to give two hoots for anyone who has put their money in Singapore. With the current credit crisis you never actually know which unexpected black hole is going to open up next. Who would have thought that Nationwide would now have turned out to have made a wide variety of poor lending decisions. Even if the government is well run some of Singapore's banks may have been lending money to dodgy risks in Europe and the United States that are now defaulting.

As to the Commonwearlth do me a favour. Even Zimbabwe is a member (albeit a suspended one) and numerous other dodgy countries belong to that club.

Although a delightful country has fish as its main and almost sole export.( Excluding of course the late great Magnus Magnusson ! )

You obviously forgot about Bjork:eek:.

KingL

KingL wrote: »

Just out of interest, would anybody who opted to open an ICICI Singapore account as a result of postings on this board be kind enought to post here to say so?..

thanks

anyone ? ....

eeja

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Iceland was also highly credit rated and also considered a first world nation not to mention a member of the wider european economic area (i.e. same status as Switzerland).

The point about Singapore is that if it does get in to trouble I wouldn't expect the government there to give two hoots for the savings of white Europeans and nor would I expect the British government to give two hoots for anyone who has put their money in Singapore. With the current credit crisis you never actually know which unexpected black hole is going to open up next. Who would have thought that Nationwide would now have turned out to have made a wide variety of poor lending decisions. Even if the government is well run some of Singapore's banks may have been lending money to dodgy risks in Europe and the United States that are now defaulting.
REPLY
Have you ever visited Singapore ? I doubt it or you would never have written about it in this way. We Brits even though the colonial power are greatly loved and respected there. It is hugely popular with expats .
Only one aspect of the country I deeply oppose and indeed hate ...no not their flogging of certain convicted criminals, as its mainly rapists, vandals and those that assault women who receive the lash ( a punishment introduced by the British by the way) no its their use of the death penalty for all drug traffickers defined as possessing more than 10 grams of heroin. Several Westerners have already been strung up and hundreds of Chinese and Malays.
Disgraceful in a civilised country to my mind. When you enter the country you see a large welcome notice telling you that if you are carrying drugs you are likely to be executed. Horrible.......what a welcome !