5 “Bank-Like Accounts” And Where They Are Now

Want decent interest while still maintaining liquidity? Sounds a little too good to be true, but a few financial institutions have indeed tried to provide liquidity like a bank account and yet offer acceptable returns for one’s savings. Without a banking license, however, these companies often have to find creative ways to bring their product to the masses without running into regulatory trouble.

Here’s a look at “bank-like accounts” we’ve seen in recent times, or at least the ones that I can remember (and I have pretty bad memory).

⚠️ The term “bank-like account” is something I coined to describe products that I feel try to offer features of a bank account. None of these products are actual bank accounts nor claim to be bank accounts.

ELASTIQ

What is it really: insurance policy
Availability: no longer available

Likely the pioneer of bank-like accounts, Etiqa introduced ELASTIQ as early as 2018. When I reviewed it in June 2020, its crediting rate was 1.80% p.a. — nothing much to shout about, but pretty decent given the rates at that time.

Etiqa is an insurer — specifically Maybank’s insurance business — and without a banking license, ELASTIQ was made possible by the insurance company issuing it as a non-participating universal life policy. It was quite apparent that ELASTIQ wasn’t a bank account, with multiple references to it being a “policy” and plenty of insurance legalese when one signed up.

There was also a 90-day lock-in period where no withdrawals could be made once the policy takes effect, and top-ups as well as withdrawals had to be made in multiples of S$500. A rarity in the world of insurance, withdrawals were instant and incurred no penalty.

Bank-like accounts have evolved a lot since, even becoming almost indistinguishable from bank accounts in recent times, so the limits on withdrawals seem almost clumsy in retrospect. It was, however, an attractive proposition during those times, and quite a few readers signed up through my referral some 5 years ago when my audience was significantly smaller (drop a comment so I can thank you again 😄).

GIGANTIQ and Dash EasyEarn

What is it really: insurance policy
Availability: no longer available

Following the popularity of ELASTIQ, Etiqa released Dash EasyEarn in collaboration with Singtel Dash in 2020, followed by GIGANTIQ just a few months later in the same year. Both accounts moved closer to being bank-like, getting rid of lock-in periods and allowing withdrawals right from day one.

With Dash EasyEarn, users could withdraw right away, though withdrawals could only be done in multiples of S$100. GIGANTIQ further improved on the formula and allowed withdrawals of any amount. Both accounts, however, collected a S$0.50 to S$0.70 fee per withdrawal which could be a dealbreaker for those who make frequent withdrawals as one would from their bank account.

All three policies from Etiqa have since stopped accepting new applications for years, and I imagine existing policies are now defunct. Could we see Etiqa dipping its toe back into these waters again now that rates have started dipping again? We can only hope.

Singlife Account

What is it really: insurance policy
Availability: still available

Singlife, another insurance company, didn’t want Etiqa to be the only player in the game and released Singlife Account in early 2020. Possibly the closest to a bank account yet, Singlife Account allows transfers in and out of the account via FAST — instantly and without fees. At one point in its life, the policy even came with a debit card that allowed users to spend directly from amounts in their Singlife Account.

Just like Etiqa’s policies, Singlife Account is a non-participating universal life policy with a crediting rate that the insurer can change anytime. Unlike ELASTIQ or its sibling policies, Singlife Account is still available to this day, and offers a pretty decent 3% p.a. returns on the first S$10,000 of balance.

As an insurance policy, Singlife Account has a feature that many customers may find appealing — it is insured by Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC). While bank accounts come under the Deposit Insurance Scheme by SDIC, insurance policies like Singlife Account come under the Policy Owners’ Protection Fund.

A fun fact to note is that Singlife Account was the brainchild of Walter de Oude, who left Singlife a while ago to become the founder of the next and final product on this list.

Chocolate Finance

What is it really: asset management firm investing into bond funds
Availability: still available (with liquidity feature suspended)

As the latest entrant in this space, Chocolate Finance probably needs little introduction at this point, especially after recent events. While other products on this list are insurance policies, Chocolate Finance is an asset management firm that invests client money into investment funds, specifically investment-grade bond funds.

Though not the riskiest of investments around, such bond funds have some volatility and can take anywhere from 3 to 5 business days for buy or sell transactions to happen. To mitigate these, Chocolate Finance has two programmes that make it rather unique: its Top-Up Programme and Liquidity Programme.

Instead of clients receiving the market returns of the bond funds, Chocolate sets a rate that its customers would get which is currently 3.3% p.a. for the first S$20,000. If returns are lower than this, the firm tops up the difference with its Top-Up Programme. For times when returns are higher, Chocolate takes the excess as its fees. Also, while transactions take days to process, Chocolate Finance’s Liquidity Programme fronts cash to users when they withdraw so that they don’t have to wait.

Together with the Chocolate Card that earns 2 Max Miles per dollar, Chocolate Finance might possibly be the closest we’ve ever seen a “bank-like account” come to offering features of a typical bank account. With initially good returns and customer-friendly features, I even thought that it was fit to receive my pick for Investment App of the Year late last year.

Things have changed quite a bit since, and while the Top-Up Programme has been extended to 30th June 2025 (or when S$1 billion of assets are reached), the Liquidity Programme has been put on pause with little news to the timeline of its return. This does significantly impact the “bank-like” nature of the product, but at least the product is still around unlike many which have thrown in the towel.

Will we see more “bank-like accounts”?

As interest rates from traditional bank accounts start to slip, will we see a resurgence of such “bank-like accounts”? I certainly hope so. Such accounts have been an area of interest for this site, and will likely continue to be so stay subscribed for future updates if anything interesting comes along.

Seth Wee was a licensed financial adviser representative from 2009 to 2025, with over 16 years of experience in Singapore’s financial advisory industry.

He started Sethisfy.com in 2019 to share practical insights on credit cards, banking products, and miles strategies, helping readers identify financial products that deliver the best value. Seth has been featured in CNA, Channel 8, Today, and a host of other publications. In 2025, he was also part of a panel at CPF’s Ready For Life festival.

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