I THANK Mr Tay Seng Huat for his letter on Thursday on the $2 fall-below fee at POSB ('POSB's $2 penalty').

Many POSB customers hold a POSB savings account and the average daily balance in this account is $500. This daily balance amount of $500 has not changed since it was implemented on June 1, 2000.

Mr Tay may not be aware that POSB is the only bank that waives the fall-below fee on personal savings accounts held by the young below the age of 21, senior citizens above the age of 62, full-time national servicemen (NSFs) and those under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports public assistance schemes.

This means more than one million of our customers enjoy fee waiver for maintaining an account with POSB.

The account Mr Tay referred to is the POSB current account (with checking facilities) where customers need to maintain a minimum of $1,500, otherwise a $2 fall-below fee will apply.

Having served generations of Singaporeans for the past 132 years, POSB remains committed to the community it serves and prides itself in being 'neighbours first, bankers second'.

Jeremy Soo
Managing Director & Head
Consumer Banking Group (Singapore)
DBS Bank

This article was first published in The Straits Times.