MAYBANK SINGAPORE LAUNCHES NEW FIRST-IN-MARKET HOME LOAN PACKAGES

SINGAPORE, April 18 (Bernama) -- Maybank Singapore Monday launched two innovative home loan packages, the Hybrid Rate Home Loan and the Ceiling Rate Home Loan.

While the Hybrid Rate Home Loan marries both the floating and fixed rates, it differs from the traditional home loan structure in which interest rates are fixed for the first year and float thereafter.

Pegged in the first year to the three-month Singapore Interbank Offered Rate, customers can take advantage of the current low interbank rates now, and thereafter enjoy the certainty of fixed rates in the subsequent second or second and third years.

"This is a radical move from what the market now offers," said Helen Neo, the bank's head of consumer banking, at the launch here.

Meanwhile, the Ceiling Rate Home Loan is pegged to the three-month Singapore Swap Offer Rate and capped at a ceiling rate of as low as three per cent during the lock-in period.

"As the name suggests, this loan offers the assurance that even if interest rates swing upwards, customers will be protected by a ceiling rate feature," Neo said.

She also said the bank's home loans book for the past quarter had surpassed the market average growth of 1.3 per cent, and she expected strong take-up for both loan packages with the Hybrid Rate Home Loan taking the lead in the current low rates environment because of its strong "float first, fix later" proposition.