Close to 8,000 pre-registrations already secured

From left: Mr Sunny Quek (Head of Global Consumer Financial Services, OCBC), Ms Sun Xueling (Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of Social and Family Development) and Ms Helen Wong (Group Chief Executive Officer, OCBC), officially launched the OCBC MyOwn Account at the OCBC Wisma Atria branch today.

Singapore, 20 October 2024 – OCBC has officially launched the OCBC MyOwn Account, a first-of-its-kind bank account that teenagers and older children aged between seven and 15 can operate via the OCBC app – within boundaries set by their parents.

The OCBC MyOwn Account soft launched on 15 October 2024, enabling parents who are existing OCBC customers to open an OCBC MyOwn Account for their children via the OCBC app.

OCBC MyOwn Account has received overwhelming response since pre-registrations opened and details of the account were first announced on 3 September 2024. Parents have signalled their interest to open accounts for about 8,000 children. Given this demand, OCBC aims to attract 100,000 account sign ups within a year from today.

OCBC MyOwn Account strengthens OCBC’s track record in providing banking products for children. The OCBC Mighty Savers programme has been successful in educating children about the value of money and instilling the habit of saving from an early age. Since its 2007 launch, 200,000 children have saved with OCBC Mighty Savers. OCBC also has more than 50 per cent of the Child Development Account (CDA) market share.

Themed cards, pins and financial literacy content

The OCBC MyOwn Account kicks off OCBC’s five-year collaboration with Disney. OCBC MyOwn Account customers in Singapore are the first in Southeast Asia to take home debit cards with special Disney or Marvel designs featuring Stitch, Elsa and Anna, Spider-Man, Captain America and Black Panther. Limited edition OCBC pins with Disney, Marvel and Pixar character designs in “blind packs” are also part of the account opening rewards.

With the account’s official launch at OCBC Wisma Atria today, the branch has been dressed up with three informative photo zones featuring beloved Disney and Marvel characters. Each zone focuses on one aspect of financial literacy – saving, spending and using digital banking safely. The Disney and Marvel-themed photo zones at the branch will be available until 30 November 2024 to all consumers.

Financial literacy is at the heart of OCBC MyOwn Account. To engage younger customers, financial literacy content comes in the form of comics featuring Ralph and Vanellope from Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph. OCBC’s wealth management experts have weaved in concepts like the importance of saving and prudent spending into activity sheets and resources that come with the comics. The content is free to be downloaded and used by parents and teachers to impart financial literacy education. The comics are available to OCBC MyOwn Account customers on the OCBC app, and to all on the OCBC website and at the OCBC Wisma Atria Branch.

Instilling “hands-on” money management skills among children

Besides the comics, the OCBC MyOwn Account itself helps build a strong financial literacy foundation. It is the only bank account in Singapore that enables teenagers and older children under 16 years old to operate and monitor their own bank account, use a debit card, or make PayNow transactions through the OCBC app. It is an ideal choice to teach children to be financially independent and give them a “hands-on” experience of digital banking – balanced with guidance and supervision from parents. This will enable them to learn money management basics and build their financial savviness in a safe and controlled manner.

The account comes highly secured with parental controls and security measures:

• Parents are the only ones who can open the OCBC MyOwn Account for their children.
• Parents can supervise their children’s account activities in real time via the separate dashboard of their child’s account on their own OCBC app.
• Only parents can set daily transaction limits on the account and debit card, to prevent indiscriminate spending. Children cannot change this setting on their own OCBC app.

Ms Helen Wong, Group CEO, OCBC, said in an opening address at the launch event, “OCBC MyOwn Account enables kids and teenagers to learn good financial habits. This is through hands-on experience which I strongly believe is the best way to learn. They can use the OCBC app to make transactions and monitor their account balance. They can explore the app to learn about the digital safety features that are available.

“But there must be balance. Giving kids and teens the opportunity to learn independently is important, but parents still play a key role. That is why parental controls are at the centre of the account’s design. Kids and teens operate the account within boundaries. Only parents can set the account’s transaction limits. Parents can also use their own OCBC app to track their child’s account activities in real time. It is this balance that makes the OCBC MyOwn Account’s proposition very strong.”

Rewards for OCBC MyOwn Account openings

OCBC MyOwn Account customers can redeem one of 20 limited edition OCBC pins in “blind packs” while stocks last, when they perform any of these actions:

• Successfully open an OCBC MyOwn Account and deposit at least S$10
• Deposit at least S$500 into their OCBC MyOwn Account (limited to two pin redemptions per customer)
• Refer a friend to open an OCBC MyOwn Account (each referral will entitle the customer to redeem one OCBC pin, with no limit on the number of referrals that can be made)

In addition, new-to-bank OCBC 360 Account customers who open an OCBC MyOwn Account for their child will receive a one-year Disney+ Premium subscription.

More information can be found at http://go.ocbc.com/myown.

OCBC MyOwn Account customers can redeem one of 20 limited edition OCBC pins when they sign up for an account, deposit at least $500 into their account or refer a friend to open an account.

From 20 Oct – 30 Nov 2024, OCBC has dressed up its Wisma Atria branch with three informative photo zones to highlight key financial literacy concepts featuring Disney and Marvel characters.