A finance company you may never have banked with is quietly paying more on a 12-month deposit than most of the high street, and the number it is advertising is not the number most people will get.
> Quick view: SingFinance's Fixed Deposit (FD) Online board pays 1.80% p.a. at 6 and 12 months, for fresh funds. That rate sits in the $10,000 column; the $1,000 column pays 1.50% at the same tenors. Placed at a branch counter instead, the same money earns the board rate of 0.25% p.a. at 12 months under $50,000. The board also runs backwards: 18 months pays 1.60% and 24 months pays 1.50%. HL Bank, effective 17 September, matches 1.80% at 6 and 12 months and then pays 1.88% and 2.00%. Both are SDIC insured to S$100,000.
Who SingFinance actually is
SingFinance is the retail brand of Sing Investments & Finance Limited, a licensed Singapore finance company rather than a bank. That distinction matters less than people assume for a deposit: Singapore dollar deposits with SingFinance are insured by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation up to S$100,000 per depositor, the same cover a bank deposit gets.
What it does mean is that you will not find SingFinance in most rate comparisons, and the rate it is paying right now is worth knowing about.
The board, as SingFinance publishes it
This is the Fixed Deposit (FD) Online table, marked "for Fresh Funds Only", read off the company's own rates page on 19 September 2026.
| Tenure | Min. $1,000 | Min. $10,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | 1.15% p.a. | 1.30% p.a. |
| 3 months | 1.45% p.a. | 1.50% p.a. |
| 6 months | 1.50% p.a. | 1.80% p.a. |
| 12 months | 1.50% p.a. | 1.80% p.a. |
| 18 months | 1.50% p.a. | 1.60% p.a. |
| 24 months | 1.35% p.a. | 1.50% p.a. |
Three things come straight off that grid.
The 1.80% is a $10,000 rate. Every listing carrying this promotion leads with 1.80% and stops there. At $1,000 the same 6-month and 12-month tenors pay 1.50%. On $10,000 for a year that is $180 against $150, so the higher column is worth $30 a year, and it exists only because the entry price is ten times higher.
Longer is worse, not better. The board peaks at 12 months and then falls: 1.60% at 18 months, 1.50% at 24 months. The instinct to lock money away for longer in exchange for a better rate is simply wrong here. Taking the 12-month rate and deciding again next September beats committing to either of the longer tenors.
It is fresh funds only. Money already parked with SingFinance does not qualify. There is also no start or end date printed on the page, only the line that rates are subject to change without prior notice, so this is a rate to re-check on the morning you place, not one to plan a month around.
The counter pays a seventh of the app
SingFinance publishes a second table on the same page, the Fixed Deposit Board Rates for personal and business accounts. That is what you get if you place the ordinary way rather than through the online fresh-funds product.
| Tenure | $500 to under $50,000 | $50,000 and above |
|---|---|---|
| 6 months | 0.15% p.a. | 0.20% p.a. |
| 12 months | 0.25% p.a. | 0.30% p.a. |
| 24 months | 0.30% p.a. | 0.35% p.a. |
| 60 months | 0.30% p.a. | 0.35% p.a. |
Put $10,000 in for a year at the counter and the board rate of 0.25% earns about $25. Put the identical $10,000 through the app on the fresh-funds board and it earns $180. Same institution, same SDIC cover, roughly seven times the return, decided entirely by which route you took.
There is a related trap for older savers. SingFinance offers a senior citizen bonus of 0.125% p.a. on placements of 12 months and above, which sounds like something to add to the headline. Its own wording is that the additional rate "applies to placements at board rates only". Stacked on the 12-month board rate, a senior gets 0.375%, not 1.925%.
How the online placement actually works
The online rate is not something you can walk in and ask for. SingFinance's own instructions are that online fixed deposit placements must be funded by transfer from a GoSavers Account, and the GoSavers Account is opened in the SIF Mobile app using Myinfo. Once it is open you can FAST money in from participating banks, then place the deposit.
Worth knowing before you move a large balance: the GoSavers Account itself pays 1.30% p.a. on the first $250,000, then 1.28% on the next $150,000, 1.29% on the next $100,000 and 1.30% above $500,000. The second tier paying less than the first is unusual, and it means money sitting in GoSavers waiting to be placed is not earning a clean 1.30% all the way up.
How it compares with HL Bank
HL Bank refreshed its own fixed deposit promotion on 17 September 2026, two days before SingFinance's rate started circulating, and its page is the fairer benchmark because it uses the same S$10,000 online minimum.
| Tenure | SingFinance (from $10,000) | HL Bank (from S$10,000 online) |
|---|---|---|
| 6 months | 1.80% p.a. | 1.80% p.a. |
| 12 months | 1.80% p.a. | 1.80% p.a. |
| 18 months | 1.60% p.a. | 1.88% p.a. |
| 24 months | 1.50% p.a. | 2.00% p.a. |
They are level at 6 and 12 months, the tenors most households use. Past a year HL Bank is plainly better, and by 24 months it is half a percentage point ahead. HL Bank's placements go through HLB Connect, with an iSavings Account opened online via Singpass, and its branch route needs S$100,000 rather than S$10,000. It is also SDIC insured to S$100,000.
So the honest split is this. If you have $10,000 or more and want 6 or 12 months, the two are the same rate and you can pick on whichever app you would rather deal with. If you want to commit past a year, HL Bank pays more. If you have less than $10,000, SingFinance is the one that will take you at all, at 1.50% for 6 or 12 months from $1,000, which is a rate most banks will not pay on that size.
Before you place
- Check the rate on the day. Neither board carries an end date and both providers reserve the right to move without notice. Fixed deposit boards in Singapore have been moving within days of each other all month.
- Confirm the money counts as fresh funds. Existing SingFinance balances are excluded from the online board.
- Do not stretch to a longer tenor at SingFinance. The rate falls after 12 months, so there is nothing to gain by locking up.
- Keep total deposits per institution under S$100,000 if the SDIC cover is the point of using a smaller name.
- Seniors should read which board they are on. The 0.125% bonus is board-rate only, so it cannot be added to 1.80%.
Related
- 10 Best Fixed Deposit Rates in Singapore (2026). Where 1.80% sits against the ten providers we track, and how often each one re-prices.
- 5 Best Savings Accounts in Singapore (2026). For the money you cannot lock away, and the salary-crediting conditions that decide those rates.
- Best Digital Banks in Singapore (2026). Trust, GXS and MariBank, and what they pay with no lock-in at all.
- Best Singapore Promos & Deals This Month. Everything live, sorted by urgency.
*Every SingFinance figure above, the two rate tables, the fresh-funds condition, the GoSavers tiers, the senior citizen wording and the SIF Mobile placement route, is read off singfinance.com.sg on 19 September 2026. The HL Bank rates are read off its own Fixed Deposit Promotion page, which is marked effective 17 September 2026. Photo: SingFinance official Fixed Deposit (FD) Online page image.*
