Capturing New Customers From Collective Sales
As competition for high net worth customers heats up, Singapore's banks find creative ways to capture new customers at en bloc sales.
Singapore's bankers are aggressively hunting for newly-minted millionaires, particularly at en bloc sales. One week ago, 11 United Overseas Bank (UOB) bankers were spotted surrounding the residents of Dunearn Gardens as they collected the cheques for the sale of the freehold residential development off Newton road.
«They offered to bank in the cheques for us,» said a Dunearn Gardens resident, who was quoted in «Business Times» (behind paywall). On top of that, UOB offered a preferential interest rate of 1.75 per cent for those who would deposit at least S$350,000 in a savings account for the next four months, the resident said.
Wooing The Millionaires
Each owner in the Dunearn Gardens transaction received a gross sale price of approximately S$2.69 million to S$7.98 million , according to a press release from property consultancy firm Knight Frank. To get the attention of millionaires gathered at such collective sales, bankers came up with creative ways.
Besides dangling attractive deposit rates and offering referral fees to introduce friends, banks can sponsor buffets and invite potential customers to educational events. For example, DBS sponsored a buffet dinner for the Dunearn Gardens residents while OCBC organises masterclasses on financial for residents of collective sale developments they partner with.
«With the healthy demand and outlook for the private residential market, resale prices for private residential properties continued to increase, driven by the higher launch prices of new developments from costlier land acquisitions,» said Citi in its second quarter property insights.
