POSB Home Ideal First

What it is: A home loan facility that allows flexible monthly instalments with interest rates pegged to Central Provident Fund (CPF) rates.

Details: The package was created specially for first-time home owners. A seven-day return policy lets you cancel the loan without penalty any time within seven days of accepting it.

Extra perks: If you have an existing HDB home loan, you will be entitled to special benefits when you take out a second loan to upgrade to your first private property.

HSBC FlexiPay

What it is: A flexible payment benefit that allows the policyholder to reduce the premium term of his life insurance policy.

Details: You can shave five years or more off your premium term, reducing it all the way down to one year. Having a shorter premium term effectively reduces the length of your financial commitment to your insurance policies and frees up your money for other needs.

OCBC 3.5-Year SGD Equity- Linked Structured Deposit

What it is: A principal-protected structured deposit that could give investors a higher rate of return than what they could get from ordinary time deposit accounts. Suitable for investors with a 3.5-year investment timeframe.

Details: You participate in the performance of four Singapore blue-chip shares: CapitaLand, Keppel Corp, Sembcorp Marine and SingTel. You could earn interest of up to 4.5 per cent a year if all four underlying shares trade within their respective barrier ranges on all scheduled trading days in the relevant interest period.

SGX MSCI Asia Apex 50 Index Futures

What it is: The first internationally available pan-Asian futures contract based on the MSCI Asia Apex 50 Index.

Details: The MSCI Asia Apex 50 Index captures the performance of the 50 largest stocks in Asia, excluding Japan, and provides exposure to five markets: China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Denominated in United States dollars, the contract offers international investors a convenient and cost-effective way to tap fast-growing Asian economies, without the hassle of stock picking or trading in multiple markets individually.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 4, 2008