Hi Dives, hope you are keeping well!
Just a follow-up to the story. True to his word, the
OCBC JB RM braved the traffic at the Causeway and drove down to Singapore to meet me tonight, after only receiving a cold call from me out of the blue this afternoon. He arrived at around 9pm with all the forms for account opening, etc. I duly signed all the forms and passed him some cheques to fund the account.
He also offered me a one-time promo SGD FD for 1 month at
OCBC Malaysia at 5%+ pa. I told him I will place the SGD with him for that period after I have decided to do the exchange later, when the cheques clear and when the market is favourable. I also recounted to him, for his benefit, why I am closing my longstanding account with Citi to put him in the right perspective. He left after all the formalities and small talk and I asked him whether he is meeting anyone else. He said that this trip is only for me. Now, that's good service.
A hungry banker is a good banker!
Malaysia is an inefficient country with shifting regulations. So, I asked him whether I would need to explain to Bank Negara why I am transferring such a large amount out of Malaysia. He said that as long as I am transferring
any amount of money to my own account or to my spouse's account (anywhere in the world), no explanation would be required as long as I do not have any loans outstanding with any financial institutions in Malaysia. My philosophy is to always do it via the cleanest way possible i.e. to transact within the banking system else it may unnecessarily arouse money laundering suspicions and waste everyone's time and effort.
He also said he has a lot of clients who are either Malaysians working and residing in Singapore or Singaporeans who have investments in Malaysia having accounts with him so it's quite usual for him to come over to Singapore to "assist" his clients. Great strategy for
OCBC Malaysia. I assured him that, in any case, I will keep some AUM with him since Malaysia will remain one of my investment and holiday destination.
Despite the maturity of the banking industry in Singapore, there is still loads of room for improvement in the level of banking service. My BOS RM was suitably embarrassed as she can't solve this simple issue for me despite them being in the same group. My UBS RM, I don't know what to say.
No matter what our individual circumstances are, every single dollar is important to each banking client and we owe it to ourselves to ensure that we get the appropriate level of efficiencies in our banking services. Entrusting it to our RMs .....nah, they are still way off the mark and complacent. No wonder many are asking "who moved my cheese"!
Take care my friend and keep healthy and happy!