From 1 July to 31 August 2020, DBS is offering up to 12,000 miles to customers who open a DBS Vickers and digiPortfolio account for investing.
Customers will need to conduct nine trades and invest S$9,000 for a 6-month period to qualify.
How it works
Customers first need to open a new multi-currency account, which will be used as the funding account for investing in DBS Vickers or digiPortfolio.
DBS Vickers bonus
Customers who open a new DBS Vickers online trading account and execute “Buy” trades in the first seven months will receive DBS points as follows:
| Number of Buy Trades by the 7th Month of Account Opening | DBS Points |
| 1 | 300 (600 miles) |
| 3 | 1,000 (2,000 miles) |
| 6 | 2,000 (4,000 miles) |
| 9 | 3,000 (6,000 miles) |
Eligible online buy trades include both cash and cash upfront trades, which is good because the latter is much cheaper (0.12%, with a S$10 minimum). The full fee schedule can be found here.
If you open your account in July 2020, you’ll have until 31 January 2021 to make the trades. If you open your account in August 2020, you’ll have until 28 February 2021 to make the trades.
A DBS Vickers account lets you trade securities in seven different markets:
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digiPortfolio bonus
Customers can also choose to also open a digiPortfolio investment account (DBS’s version of a robo investor) and maintain a balance for six months to earn additional DBS points:
| Investment Amount Maintained for 6 Months | DBS Points |
| S$1,000 | 300 (600 miles) |
| S$3,000 | 1,000 (2,000 miles) |
| S$6,000 | 2,000 (4,000 miles) |
| S$9,000 | 3,000 (6,000 miles) |
The digiPortfolio has no upfront charges, platform fees, switching fees or lock-in requirements. Only a management fee of 0.75% p.a is administered.
Further bonus for opening joint-alternate account
If you open a joint-alternate account, deposit S$3,000 by the following month and maintain the same average daily balance for six consecutive months, you’ll receive 1,000 DBS Points (2,000 miles).
When will the bonus DBS Points post?
Bonus DBS points will post by February or March 2021, depending when your account was opened.
| Account Opening Month | Reward Crediting Date |
| July 2020 | By 28 February 2021 |
| August 2020 | By 31 March 2021 |
These points will be credited to your DBS Altitude Card, which must be activated at least 30 days prior to the Reward Crediting Date.
If you don’t already have one, DBS is currently offering S$220 of cashback when you sign up for a credit card as a new-to-bank customer. Apply via the links below and remember to enter the code SHOP220 in the promo code box.
| Card | Annual Fee | Key Features |
 DBS Altitude VisaApply here Read Review | S$192.60 (First year free) | 3 mpd on airline and hotel spend, 2 lounge passes |
 DBS Altitude AMEXApply here Read Review | S$192.60 (First year free) | 3 mpd on airline and hotel spend |
Do have a read of the full T&Cs and FAQs for this promotion, linked here.
Conclusion
I’m personally sticking to my SC trading account, which allows Priority Banking customers to execute trades with no minimum commission. That said, for those of you in the market for another platform, this could be worth looking into.
Don’t let this be the only factor that influences where you open an investing account, however. Be sure to check out Seedly’s comparison articles for brokerages and robo advisors before pulling the trigger.
(HT: Adam)
