How To Enjoy Brokerage Fees of Only S$10 Per Trade (60% discount to normal commission) Using DBS Vickers Pre-Fund Feature.

I just opened an online trading account with DBS Vickers as they offered a discounted 60% commission rate of only S$10 per trade (or 0.12% of traded amount whichever is higher) which is far cheaper than the usual minimum brokerage of around S$25 per trade for trading on equities listed on SGX. Any Singapore listed stocks purchased will still be credited to one's personal Central Depository ("CDP") account which is unlike online Brokers (Tiger Brokers, MooMoo etc) which hold your purchased stocks in their custodian account. This thus gives (i) absolute comfort over the legal title of SGX securities purchased since it is under one's own account and in adddition, (ii) savings over potential imposition of custodian charges. Nonetheless, there are some things to take note since the pre-funded feature is not as intuitive for new users onboarding to Vicker's platform.

Commission rates as at 11 January 2022

1.There is no electronic payment for shares ("EPS") feature during settlement

I was initially wondering how do I link up the EPS to transfer money into my DBS Vickers trading account. Apparently, new accounts setup with DBS Vickers these days do not require EPS. During account opening, DBS Vickers would have already asked for a multi-currency DBS account to be designated for use during settlement. Upon the T+2 settlement date, DBS Vickers will automatically deduct the cash from the specified multi-currency DBS bank account.

2. One will need to log into Digital Banking first instead of direct browser log in to DBS Vickers to gain access to the special feature.

Under the trade "Settlement Mode" feature, the drop down list will only reflect the option for "Cash Upfront" (which is the cheaper $10 commission preferential charges) if one logs in from DBS Banking site. Then from the DBS Banking site, click on "Invest" header and then log into DBS Vickers from the hyperlink. 

Take note that if you log in directly from DBS Vickers online browser trading platform, then this special option will not appear at all from the drop down list at "Settlement Mode " and you can only select the usual "Cash" option which cost S$25 per trade.

Ok, now for the confusing part, if you are using the DBS Vickers App, then this "Cash Upfront" option will appear in there and you do not need to go into DBS Banking App unlike the browser form.

Parting thoughts

In summary, the browser version of DBS Vickers is strangely different from the App version in terms of the ready availability of the "Cash Upfront" option. One other thing to note is that the above concessionary rate is only for "Buy" trade and not "Sell" trade. Overall, I like the auto deduction at settlement date akin to GIRO feature and is hassle free. Of course, one would need to ensure that one has sufficient cash balances in one's DBS multi-currency account.