POSB Brings Back National Savings Campaign For Kids

Need help in encouraging your child to save?

POSB, the People’s Bank, announced that it is bringing back the iconic POSB National School Savings Campaign – known by many as the “POSB Saving Stamps Programme” – an initiative to encourage primary school students to cultivate the habit of saving. The savings campaign, reintroduced in conjunction with SG50, was unveiled on 23 January 2015 by the Minister for Education, Mr. Heng Swee Keat.

POSB National Savings Campaign Launch Day Selfie with Minister Heng

At the launch, Minister Heng told the students a story of how he used to save as a child under the National Savings campaign and how he looked forward to collecting all the stamps until the booklet was full. He also mentioned while it is “important to know the value, it is important to know things that do not cost any at all.” He asked the students about the things that were valuable to them, yet did not cost anything.

“Friendship… trust… harmony… happiness.” These were a few of the answers from the 9 year old students.

New Elements to Cater to the Digitally Savvy Generation

While the campaign retains some of its original elements, the bank has also taken an innovative approach to engaging the digitally savvy generation of today by introducing “Smiley Town”, a mobile gaming app that provides students with money-saving tips and helps students track their savings.

Said Jeremy Soo, Head of DBS Singapore Consumer Banking Group, “Many Singaporean adults – myself included – grew up with the National School Savings Campaign. I have very fond memories of collecting the stamps and watching my savings grow. Based on our survey, we note parents’ rising concerns about the erosion of savings as a value among the young. We feel it is important for students to participate in the physical act of saving money, and in keeping with the times, we also want to engage them digitally in a fun and interesting way.”

The app will be available on iTunes and Google Play on 2 February 2015.

Fun facts of the National School Savings Campaign

POSB past saving book

It was first introduced in 1969 through the “Postal Savings Bank” – now known as POSB.
The deposits generated by the campaign provided a valuable source of funds for the economic growth of Singapore, while cultivating values of savings and thrift among the youth.
The campaign proved to be hugely popular across its run in the 1970s and 1980s, at its peak achieving 100% participation from schools.
A recent POSB online poll conducted with 5,000 respondents indicated that 90% believe that having a National School Savings Campaign would be effective in cultivating a healthy savings habit amongst children.
89% also expressed their concerns that savings as a value among children have eroded in today’s affluent society.
With the support of MOE, 190 schools and 2400 students will be participating in this 10 month campaign starting in February 2015.

How to get started

To participate in the campaign, students can collect stamp cards from participating school bookstores, POSB/DBS branches, or any SingPost outlet from February 2 onwards.

Where to purchase the stamps

POSB National Savings Campaign Stamp Card

The stamps are sold at SGD 0.50 each, from participating school bookstores, SingPost outlets or Popular book stores. Once the cards are filled with 20 stamps, they can be deposited into any POSB/DBS Quick Cheque Deposit location, and SGD 10 will be subsequently credited into the student’s POSBkids account.

To provide greater incentive for students to save, POSB will offer a bonus SGD 1 for every SGD 10 saved by each student per month via this campaign.