If you haven’t already discovered just how much easier Internet Banking, or iBanking as it’s more commonly known, can make your life, we need to have a serious heart-to-heart talk. Incidentally, Singapore has been found to have the highest online banking reach in Southeast Asia at 30.9%. What this means is that now, even aunties are getting used to the idea of not visiting bank branches and doing their banking online instead (no offence to aunties).
But that’s not what this article’s about, and we’re assuming that you’re probably familiar, at least to a certain degree of usage, about iBanking. What that probably means as well is that you’re also quite intimately familiar with the shortcomings of some of these banking platforms, especially when it comes to the user interface and user experience.
Font sizes so small you’d have to steal a microscope from your former school lab to read the words, and a million and one steps needed just to figure out how to execute a simple transaction. In fact, these are probably some of the greatest reasons why the older generation took so long to adopt iBanking into their way of life.
And this is why the latest major change from DBS to their iBanking platform is such a big deal.
Just off the bat, it’s very clear that there was a much stronger focus on design and user experience in this major overhaul, and the homepage screen is no longer littered with tiny words and a whole bunch of information that my eyes glaze over.
Simplicity is really the key here, and just looking at the navigation bars alone, you can already see how the user experience has been improved. No more menu bar hide-and-seek where you spend 5 minutes clicking on different categories just to find what you’re looking for. Go into any of the different sections and you will realise how different the look and feel is, not to mention how much easier it is to use. Ok but enough about that already. We’re going to have a closer look at how you can manage your finances in a much easier fashion with the new DBS iBanking platform.
1. Getting a quick overview of your finances
As mentioned, the home page has changed vastly. Now, getting a quick snap shot of your account is as simple as one quick scroll down. The first thing you see is a quick summary of the total balance of your different accounts.
This basically allows you to get a quick snapshot of your bank balances without having to click any further, like you previously needed to do. What follows below is, to me, probably one of the most understated and simple but useful features in this new iteration – the quicklinks menu bar.
I can’t even begin to explain what a godsend this is, and I don’t think I really need to explain why. The last part of this page is a breakdown of your different accounts, with even PayLah! now integrated into the mix as well.
2. Manage Your Expenses
If the words “manage” and “credit cards” don’t usually appear in your vocabulary, it’s probably time you do something about it. With the new DBS iBanking interface, it’s much easier now to get an overview of both your credit and debit card expenditure, with recent transactions reflected on the first page of the card summary sections.
Similarly, paying bills feels so much easier now, with very clear step-by-step instructions on paying your bills. In 4 simple steps, you’re practically done. I recently paid my credit card bills from another bank and I thought it would be a pain to add a new billing organisation and then make the payment, but the new interface really made things feel a lot smoother and easier.
You might not realise it now, reading this article, but a cleaner and simpler interface makes such a big difference in terms of how likely you are to use a particular feature, and on a personal note, I can definitely see myself utilising a lot more of the payment features on the new DBS iBanking platform now that it’s become much easier to use.
3. Manage Your Investments
We’ve previously covered a comparison of the various Regular Savings Plans (RSPs) offered by the different banks, and with POSB’s Invest-Saver plan being one of the most attractive plans, you can certainly begin your investing journey easily with the new iBanking platform under the Invest section.
If you’re looking at alternative forms of investments, such as investing your CPF funds like we’ve also written about before, then you’re going to need to set up a DBS Vickers trading account, which you can just as easily do as well.
With the cost of living slowly and steadily increasing in Singapore, procrastinating on starting to invest your money is not something that is going to do you any good in the long run and certainly, the earlier you start, the better it is. What used to be a huge hassle to begin is now as simple as filling in a few fields and you’re on your way.
Final Word
We couldn’t be more pleased at the overhaul of the DBS iBanking platform. While it might largely still contain much of the same features the previous version had, the new interface really encourages active usage (and makes me feel good about it) much more than the previous one did. Also, I no longer have to worry about my eyesight anymore and can actually worry about properly managing my finances in a much more structured and orderly way. If you’ve not already logged in or, heaven forbid, you’re not even using iBanking to manage your finances, you definitely have to see it for yourself!
This article was brought to you by DBS.
What are some common features that you use with DBS iBanking? What do you think about the new changes? Share your thoughts with us here!