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.
⚡Flash Deal⚡: Get an extra S$200 cash on top of an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB (worth S$2,017.50) or an Apple Products Bundle [Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) 10.9" WiFi 256 GB + Apple Magic Keyboard + Apple Pencil (2nd generation)] (worth S$1,779.50) or S$1,500 cash when you successfully apply for a Citigold account and make a S$250,000 deposit within 3 months of account opening and maintain these funds until gift fulfilment. Valid till 2 May 2024. T&Cs apply.
Applicable to new-to-bank only (i.e. users with no Citigold or Current and Savings Accounts). If a user has applied for Citi Credit Card or Personal Loan, they will still be eligible.
Plus, score over S$2,460 bonus cash when you maintain your Citigold relationship and fulfil the following qualifying criteria (T&Cs apply):
- Complete an Investment Risk Profile and Fact Find Report and get S$100 cash
- Hold a valid primary/main Citi Credit Card and get a S$300 bonus cash reward.
- Take up a Citi Home Loan with min. loan size of S$800,000 within 3 months of account opening and get a S$500 bonus cash reward.
- Purchase S$100,000 worth of investments and/or insurance from Citibank to enjoy a S$600 bonus cash reward.
- Maintain a Citigold relationship for 12 months from date of approval and get a S$960 cash reward.
At-a-glance: HSBC Premier vs Citigold
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HSBC Premier |
Citigold |
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Signing up: - Deposit fresh funds of at least S$200,000 or - Deposit your monthly salary of S$15,000 and above or - Take an HSBC Singapore property loan of at least S$800,000 You'll also be eligible for a fixed deposit rate of up to 2.8% with min. S$30,000 deposit for 12 months; up to 2.5% for 7 months |
Signing up: - Deposit fresh funds of at least S$250,000
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Wealth management tools and services: - All-in-one wealth tracking via Wealth Dashboard - Preferential rates for savings, loans and mortgages - Online unit trust and securities investment - Construct your own investment portfolio with research and wealth advisory from HSBC’s research team |
Wealth management tools and services: - Personalised wealth management via Total Wealth Advisor - Preferential mortgage interest rates and instalment offsets - Full suite of wealth solutions, ranging from forex to unit trusts and insurance solutions - Bonus interest of up to 7.51% p.a. with Citi Wealth First Account |
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Membership privileges: - Global banking privileges, including fee-free ATM cash withdrawals - Overseas education support for children - Relationship Manager assigned to you |
Membership privileges: - Access Citigold centres and free emergency cash withdrawals worldwide - Dining, travel, hotel, spa, health and other lifestyle privileges - Relationship Manager assigned to you |
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Sign-up reward: - Receive up to S$28,708 welcome gift - Bonuses for incremental deposits, investments and referrals |
Sign-up rewards: - Receive up to S$13,865 welcome gift with additional S$138 Wealth Booster - Bonuses for incremental deposits, investments and referrals |
⚡Flash Deal⚡: Get an extra S$200 cash on top of an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB (worth S$2,017.50) or an Apple Products Bundle [Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) 10.9" WiFi 256 GB + Apple Magic Keyboard + Apple Pencil (2nd generation)] (worth S$1,779.50) or S$1,500 cash when you successfully apply for a Citigold account and make a S$250,000 deposit within 3 months of account opening and maintain these funds until gift fulfilment. Valid till 2 May 2024. T&Cs apply.
Applicable to new-to-bank only (i.e. users with no Citigold or Current and Savings Accounts). If a user has applied for Citi Credit Card or Personal Loan, they will still be eligible.
Plus, score over S$2,460 bonus cash when you maintain your Citigold relationship and fulfil the following qualifying criteria (T&Cs apply):
- Complete an Investment Risk Profile and Fact Find Report and get S$100 cash
- Hold a valid primary/main Citi Credit Card and get a S$300 bonus cash reward.
- Take up a Citi Home Loan with min. loan size of S$800,000 within 3 months of account opening and get a S$500 bonus cash reward.
- Purchase S$100,000 worth of investments and/or insurance from Citibank to enjoy a S$600 bonus cash reward.
- Maintain a Citigold relationship for 12 months from date of approval and get a S$960 cash reward.
How these two products are the same
Both Citigold and HSBC Premier 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 understanding your needs and partnering with you to manage your wealth portfolio.
⚡Flash Deal⚡: Get an extra S$200 cash on top of an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB (worth S$2,017.50) or an Apple Products Bundle [Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) 10.9" WiFi 256 GB + Apple Magic Keyboard + Apple Pencil (2nd generation)] (worth S$1,779.50) or S$1,500 cash when you successfully apply for a Citigold account and make a S$250,000 deposit within 3 months of account opening and maintain these funds until gift fulfilment. Valid till 2 May 2024. T&Cs apply.
Applicable to new-to-bank only (i.e. users with no Citigold or Current and Savings Accounts). If a user has applied for Citi Credit Card or Personal Loan, they will still be eligible.
Plus, score over S$2,460 bonus cash when you maintain your Citigold relationship and fulfil the following qualifying criteria (T&Cs apply):
- Complete an Investment Risk Profile and Fact Find Report and get S$100 cash
- Hold a valid primary/main Citi Credit Card and get a S$300 bonus cash reward.
- Take up a Citi Home Loan with min. loan size of S$800,000 within 3 months of account opening and get a S$500 bonus cash reward.
- Purchase S$100,000 worth of investments and/or insurance from Citibank to enjoy a S$600 bonus cash reward.
- Maintain a Citigold relationship for 12 months from date of approval and get a S$960 cash reward.
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 up to S$13,865 in cash bonuses, with additional S$138 Wealth Booster while HSBC Premier is dangling up to S$28,708. 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.
⚡Flash Deal⚡: Get an extra S$200 cash on top of an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max 256GB (worth S$2,017.50) or an Apple Products Bundle [Apple iPad Air (5th Generation) 10.9" WiFi 256 GB + Apple Magic Keyboard + Apple Pencil (2nd generation)] (worth S$1,779.50) or S$1,500 cash when you successfully apply for a Citigold account and make a S$250,000 deposit within 3 months of account opening and maintain these funds until gift fulfilment. Valid till 2 May 2024. T&Cs apply.
Applicable to new-to-bank only (i.e. users with no Citigold or Current and Savings Accounts). If a user has applied for Citi Credit Card or Personal Loan, they will still be eligible.
Plus, score over S$2,460 bonus cash when you maintain your Citigold relationship and fulfil the following qualifying criteria (T&Cs apply):
- Complete an Investment Risk Profile and Fact Find Report and get S$100 cash
- Hold a valid primary/main Citi Credit Card and get a S$300 bonus cash reward.
- Take up a Citi Home Loan with min. loan size of S$800,000 within 3 months of account opening and get a S$500 bonus cash reward.
- Purchase S$100,000 worth of investments and/or insurance from Citibank to enjoy a S$600 bonus cash reward.
- Maintain a Citigold relationship for 12 months from date of approval and get a S$960 cash reward.
Conclusion: HSBC Premier or Citigold – Which one is right for you?
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.
Read these next:
Best Citibank Credit Cards Singapore
Best HSBC Credit Cards in Singapore
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