Category Archives: Loan / Mortgage / Finance

Migrating to Singapore through the MAS Scheme

This is one of routes to Singapore migration. You can migrate to Singapore thru the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Financial Investor Scheme (FIS).

The Singapore government and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in their quest to boost Singapore’s status as a centre for private banking and wealth management, set up a new investment scheme to get Singapore Permanent Residence. This scheme, the Financial Investor Scheme (FIS), is our third route for Singapore migration.

There are two types of financial commitments under the FIS for Singapore Permanent Residence.

• Option A: requires the applicant to place in Singapore at least SGD 5 million of financial assets with a financial institution regulated by the MAS.
• Option B: requires the applicant to hold at least SGD 3 million of assets and a Sentosa Cove bungalow on Sentosa Island.

Who is eligible?

An applicant should place in Singapore at least S$5 million worth of assets which is to be booked and managed by a financial institution that is regulated by the MAS. The assets should comprise of a financial asset of not less than S$ 3 million and amount which is not more than S$2 million in properties.

A financial asset can be any of the following:

(a) bank deposits;
(b) capital market products;
(c) collective investment schemes;
(d) premiums paid in respect of life insurance policies; and
(e) other investment products.

The eligible Singapore property is subject to foreign ownership restrictions under the Residential Properties Act. Only newly acquired property purchased within 6 months from the formal submission of the application can be included.

Applicants may include their immediate family members (spouse and unmarried children below 21 years old).

After residing as a PR in Singapore for 2 years, you may be eligible to apply for citizenship.

Source : 17 August 2009

Banks woo home-buyers in new ways

THE recent surge in HDB and private home sales has seen a pick-up in the pace of lending among banks, which have come up with new and innovative loan products to lure home-buyers.

Compared to the first quarter, the second quarter saw the number of approvals more than doubled, said Mr Gregory Chan, head of consumer secured lending at OCBC Bank.

‘We continue to see double-digit growth in sales, with a 30 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in new mortgages as of Q2 2009,’ said Mr Dennis Khoo, general manager of retail banking products at Standard Chartered Singapore.

Banks are introducing more variations in their loan products, not only to seize market share but also, in part, to avoid the old ‘How-low-can-you go?’ war of interest rates.

‘The best mortgage is not necessarily the one with the lowest interest, but the one that best suits a customer’s needs,’ Continue reading