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In a 30-minute skit, the duo - actors wearing big doll-like masks and outfits marked brashly with the dollar symbol - compete to see who can save more.

Spending carefully, Sally takes the lead. But in a twist, she gives away her money to a needy old woman, and Simon streaks ahead to emerge the victor, as the children scream and cheer. The skit is part of an effort by OCBC Bank to cultivate smart money habits in children. The twin messages: It is good to save and good to give to charity. So both Sally and Simon are winners.

The show is part of the bank's primary school programme to win over young customers who will grow up to become future credit card and mortgage clients.

Its Mighty Savers Schools programme encourages children to save with stickers. Every time a child saves a dollar, the parent hands over a sticker to paste on a card. Once $20 is saved, the cash goes into the child's savings account, and the bank hands over a gift.

Since the scheme was launched last month, OCBC has also done shows at De La Salle School, as well as Bendemeer and Woodgrove primary schools. Another 34 are lined up for the rest of this year.

If the sticker idea sounds familiar, it is because the then Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) had a huge success with similar school stamps decades ago. The bank has stopped that programme, but continues to attract young savers.

Meanwhile, the likes of Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Maybank have all jumped on the child-customer bandwagon to lock down future clients.

New schemes aimed at children are being churned out all the time. Games, gimmicks, giveaways - you name it, banks have tried it.

"The whole idea is to tell children they can save without pain," said OCBC's head of group wealth management, Nicholas Tan, who came up with the Mighty Savers scheme.

Cynthia Lim tells how she picked up the thrifty bug as a pupil at the now-defunct CHIJ Primary School (Opera Estate) in the early 1970s.

Now 40 years old and a bank employee, she used to get 50 cents a day as pocket money. But 30 cents was enough then to buy food and drink, so she used the rest to buy special stamps provided by POSB which were kept by the teacher. Each stamp cost 5 cents or 10 cents.

Like many others back then, she gleefully built up her collection of the colourful stamps, pasting them in 'Save At School' cards.

Once a card was full, the teacher would hand it - and the cash - to the POSB officer, who would do the sums and update the saver's account book.

"I was a saver, and there was joy in seeing the numbers grow in the account," recalled  Lim, who still has a POSB account today.

POSB's stamp scheme is credited with helping a generation of Singaporeans learn the importance - and satisfaction - of putting a bit away each week.

By the 1970s, stamp books had had their day. The novelty had worn off, and the process proved too cumbersome for schools to manage, said POSB managing director Davy Wee.

"They had to buy stamps, paste stamps, and we had to count stamps once a month," he said.

POSB moved on. Last year, it launched its Magic Savings Key Show, which went to around 60 primary schools and reached out to 120,000 children over nine months.

Its success with the young is evident in the hard numbers - it now has more than 360,000 accounts held by children under 12.

Other banks are also eyeing the young market.

United Overseas Bank has a junior saver's account for anyone under 16 years of age. It includes life insurance as part of the deal. Standard Chartered Bank gives a Disney piggy bank for each child account opened. And Citibank has linked up with theatre company The Necessary Stage to put on 30-minute skits in schools featuring hero Agent Penny, who teaches children the value of money.

"The first year, we covered 25 per cent of the primary schools in Singapore and in the second year, we covered about 10 per cent more. We definitely want to increase our numbers to at least 50 per cent of all primary schools here," said the bank's vice-president and head of community relations, Sophia Tong.

Banks also try to make the saving process as painless as possible for children. Their accounts are often easy to start and hassle-free to maintain. HSBC's KidzSaver account takes only a dollar to open, while the POSBkids account requires no minimum initial deposit, and the bank chips in with the first $1.

The banks say that despite the efforts being made, the margins on children's banking are low. Good returns might only be seen many years down the road.

Wee said a long-term benefit is that child customers may stay with the bank even as adults.

"They remain loyal to us. They believe that their money is in good hands," he said.

Describing some young customers who grew up and stayed on, he added with a laugh: 'They buy chwee kueh and coffee for us.'

 

- By Gabriel Chen

The Straits Times

Publication Date: 17-09-2007