The DBS Enhanced Multi-Currency Account, with the DBS Visa Debit Card Qorus Banking Innovation Awards 2017

Consumers today withdraw large amounts of cash when they travel and will exchange money to their preferred currency. After which, they carry bulky cash for overseas spend. The challenge here is how can we get consumers to go cashless when they travel and provide them with the capability to buy, spend and monitor their foreign currency funds, overseas and online. Launched on 18 Jan’17, the enhanced DBS Multi-Currency Autosave (MCA) Account, together with the DBS Visa Debit Card, is the first payments solution in Southeast Asia, for overseas and online multi-currency transactions. With travel and ecommerce expenditure rising rapidly in Singapore, we decided to be on the front foot and introduce a game-changing scheme for consumers and the industry. The project builds upon the profitability and growth of the DBS MCA, expanding its capability and transacting channels. It allows customers to conveniently transact directly in foreign currencies (using their linked DBS Visa Debit Card) in up to 11 foreign currencies in their DBS MCA without having to incur any foreign exchange fees. This also applies to foreign currency ATM withdrawals at global ATMs. With a DBS MCA, customers can also convert up to 12 foreign currencies online at a competitive rate using DBS iBanking or mBanking without having to make a trip to the money changer ever. Key stakeholders include the Consumer Deposits and Debit Card teams, together with Visa, our external partner. At end Jun’17, direct foreign currency spending via the enhanced MCA reached S$3MLN, 4x our 4Q16 monthly average of ~S$750K.