MAS Requirements & Guidelines?

These days, the banks give rock-bottom interests on our meagre savings sitting in our savings accounts. I think the rate is between 0.2% to 0.3% pa.

So when I saw a newspaper advertisement last week that one of our local Big Four was offering a promotional rate of 1.28% pa for a 12-month FD placement and 1.68% for a 3-month FD placement, I thought, the offer sounded great! Well, at least the interests which we can yield will be at least not be as rock-bottom as 0.2% to 0.3%, right?

And so, together with a colleague, I spent my lunch hour that day shuttling between the banks (shuttles because there was some misunderstanding of how the offer package worked and the total minimum deposits required etc, but these were sorted out eventually).

To summarise, I withdrew the required amount from the existing bank and brought it to the offering bank further down the street. The bank officer at the latter soon proceeded with the paperwork as my colleague (who paced up and down because she was so much less patient) and I waited.

After a few minutes of keyboard-punching, the bank officer suddenly started to ask me for details of my employment. Uh?! She asked for my employer's name and the nature of its business, my position in the entity, and for how long I have been with this employer etc.

I supplied the relevant information as requested - I figured that there is nothing for me to hide anyway, right?..... Then as I gave the information, I asked the officer, "Why do you ask for these details, ah? This is a personal matter, isn't it? I am not opening a corporate account, am I??"

The officer replied, "Oh, this is part of MAS' requirements and guidelines."

"Ha? Really? Is this new or what? I have never been asked for details regarding my employer or my employment, mah..... What if I say I am not employed? You will refuse to open the account for me, ah?!" I asked, curious as to what the reply would be.

"Oh, then in that case, we will have to verify the source of your funds," came the matter-of-fact reply.

"I could have struck the lottery or Toto, couldn't I?" I pressed on.

"For lottery winnings, we will have to ask to see the receipt for the collection of your winnings," the bank officer answered.

"Oh man, this is incredible!" I blurted out in disbelief. "Then what about if I had received a gift? And there is absolutely no receipt to tell you the source of the money? What then?" I continued.

The smile on the bank officer's face faded away as she tried in vain to offer some response. None came and after a while, I told her (much to her relief) that it was alright - I knew there wouldn't be any answer.

With a smile of relief (printed all over her face!), she quickly went through the paperworks for the FD and after about a further 10 minutes, we were done with the paperworks. My colleague and I then left for the food centre to buy our lunch before returning to the office.

Hmm.... MAS' requirements & guidelines, indeed. Really?