Priority Banking Comparison: HSBC Premier vs Citigold

HSBC Premier has a slightly lower barrier to entry, but Citigold has a richer selection of privileges. Which of these priority banking programmes should you choose?

HSBC Premier and Citigold are priority banking programmes catered to wealthy individuals seeking to grow and manage their wealth and assets.

At heart, both of these platforms are quite similar, but there are some slight differences that may make one more attractive over the other.

How does HSBC Premier compare against Citigold? Let’s find out.

At-a-glance: HSBC Premier vs Citigold

How these two products are the same

Both HSBC Premier and Citigold are premium banking programmes from HSBC and Citi respectively. They are targeted at affluent individuals who earn a high annual income (at least S$180,000) or have otherwise a substantial amount of wealth investments and assets.

Signing up for HSBC Premier or Citigold is largely similar – you’ll need to make deposits into your account equal to or exceeding the minimum qualifying sum, while making investments and/or buying insurance plans to access bonus cash rewards.

The overarching goal of both HSBC Premier and Citigold is to help their members grow their wealth further. To that end, both programmes offer personalised wealth planning and advisory services through a variety of tools and services.

These include digital dashboards and online wealth platforms that you can use to oversee your financial portfolio, as well as research insights and market reports. Another feature that may be useful is global banking facilities, such as free worldwide funds transfers, ATM withdrawals, and preferential forex rates.

Another commonality between the two is the inclusion of privileges and rewards, mostly revolving around lifestyle, partnerships and services. And also, you won’t be going at it alone (although you can, if you choose to) – you’ll be assigned the services of a Relationship Manager, who will assist you in growing your wealth by curating opportunities, promotions and offers.

Lastly, both programmes offer deposit insurance of up to S$75,000 in Singapore Dollar deposits through the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation.

How they are different

Sign-up criteria

To sign up for Citigold, you’ll need to make a deposit of fresh funds totalling S$250,000. While not explicitly stated, there may be other ways through which you can also qualify for a membership. Check directly with Citi if you’d like to explore other ways to qualify.

For HSBC Premier, there are three options for you to qualify. One is by making a fresh funds deposit of at least S$200,000, another is by crediting your salary of at least $15,000 per month, and thirdly, by taking up a Singapore property mortgage worth at least S$800,000.

Sign-up rewards

At the time of writing, both Citigold and HSBC Premier are offering sign-up rewards worth several thousands of dollars.

Citigold promises almost S$7,000 in cash bonuses. But hold on to your horses, as HSBC Premier is dangling nearly double that figure – over S$13,000.

While such sums certainly make for attention-grabbing marketing campaigns, the devil, as they say, are in the details.

In order to collect the full bonus reward, you’ll need to complete a whole list of tasks, such as making investments, buying insurance plans, maintaining your account for a minimum period, and such.

Also, part of the cash rewards come from referral bonuses, which you only receive if you manage to persuade your friends, acquaintances or family members to sign up.

It might be prudent to ignore the big flashy numbers, as realistically speaking, you’ll likely only receive part of the cash bonuses if you only want to sign up for basic services.

Membership privileges

One of the membership privileges that HSBC Premier offers is overseas education support for your children.

This perk helps to smoothen the transition for your children studying in another country through the provision of HSBC banking and payment facilities. As you’d imagine, this is really only useful if you have children and are planning to send them for overseas study.

In contrast, Citigold seems to offer a more general suite of membership privileges anchored by lifestyle, dining, travel and spa offers. Of course, it is likely that HSBC also has some of these, but details aren’t readily available, so you’ll have to ask them directly.

Conclusion: HSBC Premier or Citigold – Which one is right for you?

HSBC Premier has a slightly lower entry point – S$200,000 versus Citigold’s S$250,000 – and also offers more ways to qualify.

However, what’s more important is whether these programmes serve your long-term financial goals, which pretty much boils down to whether you can find investment products and opportunities that suit your needs and preferences.

The membership perks and privileges are secondary considerations that are good to have, and certainly should not form the basis of your decision.

But also, there’s no need to choose only one of these (or indeed, any other) priority banking programmes. If you have the funds, go ahead and sign up for both the programmes to see which one suits you best. You can always make adjustments as you go along.

But just to cover all your bases, make sure to check for early closure penalties, fixed-deposit rules and the like in case you do decide to make an early exit.

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