Issue #18: What’s Happening This Week? Cold Storage and Giant’s $125 Million Sale, OCBC 360 Account Nerf, and More

This week in money news: Cold Storage and Giant are being sold for $125 million—but don’t worry, your cashback perks are safe, and you might even score cheaper groceries. OCBC 360 Account holders, brace yourselves—OCBC’s flagship savings account is taking a hit, with lower interest rates from May. Speaking of hits… the rupiah just hit its lowest since 1998—might be time to hit Bali? 

All that and more in our bite-sized roundup of the week’s biggest finance updates—so you can stay informed without sifting through the fine print. 

TLDR; Cold Storage and Giant to be sold to Malaysian group Macrovalue for $125 million—expect more variety at Cold Storage, cheaper essentials at Giant, and no change to your credit card rewards at these supermarkets. The OCBC 360 Account is getting nerfed—from 1 May 2025, fulfilling the Salary, Spend, and Save criteria will get you 3.30% p.a. instead of the current 4.65% p.a.  To improve price transparency, Koufu will display colour-coded, dish-by-dish prices at all its economy rice stalls by end-2025. Trust Bank introduces Trust Lock, a first-of-its-kind feature that lets you lock your savings in-app to protect against scams—and still earn interest. The Indonesian rupiah hits its lowest since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, hitting 16,642 against the US dollar. Time to visit Bali? Chocolate Finance completes payouts from the 10 and 18 Mar 2025 onslaught, but instant withdrawals are still on hold—expect a 3–6 day wait for your withdrawal request.

Want more details? Let’s dive in.

Psst, missed last week’s issue? View all past editions of What’s Happening This Week? to catch up.

 

Cold Storage, Giant to be acquired by Malaysian company Macrovalue for $125 million

Big news in the local grocery scene: Cold Storage and Giant are being bought by Malaysian retail group Macrovalue for $125 million, with the deal set to complete in the second half of 2025. The acquisition includes all 48 Cold Storage stores, 41 Giant outlets, and 2 distribution centres in Singapore.

What does this mean for your supermarket shopping experience?

Macrovalue already owns Cold Storage and Giant in Malaysia, so they’re no strangers to the business. They say Singapore customers can expect more variety at Cold Storage, including items like wines, cheese, and premium dairy products from their upscale Mercato stores in Malaysia. For Giant shoppers, expect better prices on essentials like eggs, chicken, fruit, veg, and other household staples — all thanks to Macrovalue’s supply chain across the border.

What will happen to your credit card rebates at these supermarkets?

Nothing. According to a DFI spokesperson: “There will be no change to the credit card reward schemes. Customers can continue to enjoy the current credit card rewards when spending at Cold Storage and Giant supermarkets.”

This means that your Cold Storage and Giant purchases will continue to earn you up to 20% cashback* with the UOB One Card and up to 18% cash rebate with the DBS yuu Card.

*Includes the Enhanced Cashback that new-to-UOB customers who apply by 31 Mar 2025 can enjoy.

What’s next for DFI Retail Group?

Current owner DFI Retail Group—which also owns Guardian and 7-Eleven—is shifting its focus to its health, beauty, and convenience businesses. These segments have been more profitable in recent years, with Guardian alone accounting for over half of the group’s operating profit in 2024. DFI sees strong growth potential here and plans to expand services, product ranges, and even store layouts to better meet customer needs.

 

OCBC announces 360 savings account nerf

The OCBC 360 savings account is one of the best savings accounts in Singapore—or…was? Is for now?

On 21 Mar 2025, OCBC announced changes to its 360 Account that will take effect from 1 May 2025. Yup, you guessed it—rates are going down. Here’s a summary of the revisions:

Transactions	Interest rate (first $75,000)	Interest rate (next $25,000)
None (base interest)	0.05%	0.05%
Salary credit (min. $1,800, GIRO/FAST/PayNow)	+ 2.00% + 1.60% ↓	+ 4.00% + 3.20% ↓
Increase average monthly balance (min. $500)	+ 1.20% + 0.60% ↓	+ 2.40% + 1.20% ↓
Spend (min. $500 on selected OCBC credit cards)	+ 0.60% + 0.50% ↓
Insure in selected products (min $2,000)	+ 1.20%	+ 2.40%
Invest in selected products (min. $20,000)	+ 1.20 %	+ 2.40%
Maintain average daily balance of min. $200,000 $250,000	+ 2.40% + 2.20% ↓

Currently, you can earn an effective interest rate (EIR) of 4.65% p.a. when you fulfil 3 criteria: Salary, Spend, Save.

Come 1 May 2025, for fulfilling the same 3 criteria, the interest rate will drop to 3.30% p.a. While this is higher than current fixed deposit rates and Treasury Bills (the latest one on 13 Mar 2025 yielded 2.56% p.a.), it’s a painful 29% fall from current rates. In absolute terms, that’s an  earnings loss of $112.50 per month or $1,350 per year. Ouch.

Annual Rate (fulfilling  Salary, Spend, Save criteria)	Monthly interest based on $100,000 balance	Annual interest based on $100,000 balance
4.65% (before 1 May 2025)	$387.50	$4,650.00
3.30% (from 1 May 2025)	$275.00	$3,300.00

You still have just over a month before the new rates kick in, so take the time to decide what you want to do. A decent alternative is the UOB One Account, which currently offers up to 4% EIR on your first $150,000 when you spend on a UOB credit card and credit your salary to your UOB One Account. The requirements are simple and there are several good choices for UOB credit cards, like the UOB Lady’s Card or the UOB One Card. Read our full review of the UOB One Account for more details.

That said, you have a whole month till the new OCBC 360 interest rates kick in. Anything could happen. Bear in mind that UOB last changed their interest rates almost a year ago, on 1 May 2024. Who knows if/when they’ll revise the rates again.

 

Koufu food courts to display prices for economy rice dishes

Ever picked all your yummy economy rice dishes, happy and carefree, only to get a shock at the final cost of your meal? You’re not alone. In response to growing complaints about unclear pricing, Koufu food courts and coffee shops will roll out colour-coded price labels at all their economy rice stalls by the end of 2025.

The new labels will show the prices for each dish, categorised by type—like meat, seafood, vegetables, and premium items—making it easier for customers to know what they’re paying for before ordering. This move, launched in partnership with CASE (Consumers Association of Singapore), aims to boost price transparency and help avoid disputes at the counter.

The initiative kicked off on 24 Mar at Hong Le Mixed Veg Rice stall at Plantation Plaza’s Koufu food court and will be rolled out to 77 locations across the island.

 

Trust introduces new anti-scam feature, Trust Lock

Scams are on the rise in Singapore, with over $1.1 billion lost in 2024—and many involve fraudsters gaining control of victims’ phones. To fight back, Trust Bank has launched Trust Lock, a market-first security feature that lets you lock your money safely, directly in the app.

You can lock up to 5 Savings Pots, which still earn interest and contribute towards your Trust+ rewards. What’s clever is that once your money is locked, even if a scammer gains access to your device, they can’t touch it.

Okay, we get how this locks up our funds. But how do we get our money out? To unlock your pot of moolah, simply tap your physical Trust card on your phone and enter your Trust Key—but there’s a 12-hour delay before the funds are available, adding an extra layer of protection.

There’s no limit to the amount of money you can lock up, so make full use of this feature to protect as much money as you want.

 

Indonesian rupiah hits lowest level since 1998

The Indonesian rupiah dropped to its lowest point since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, hitting 16,642 against the US dollar on 25 March before recovering slightly after Indonesia’s central bank stepped in to stabilise it. So far in 2025, the rupiah has fallen over 3% against the US dollar and around 6% against the Singapore dollar.

This slide is fuelled by global uncertainty, US trade tensions, and local fiscal concerns under Indonesia’s new leadership. Investors are growing wary, pulling billions from Indonesian markets—which is putting more pressure on the currency.

What does this mean for Singaporeans? If you’re heading to Indonesia for a holiday or doing cross-border shopping, your Singapore dollar now goes further. But on the flip side, Singapore businesses with exposure to the Indonesian market—especially in finance or retail—may see increased risk and currency-related losses in the short term.

 

Chocolate Finance completes all requests, but instant withdrawals have not returned

And finally, one last update to the Chocolate Finance saga that began 2 weeks ago when the company had to pause instant withdrawals. As on 21 Mar 2025, Chocolate Finance was processed and paid out 100% of withdrawal requests made between 10 and 18 Mar 2025. Everyone who received their withdrawals also received 100% of their capital invested and all of their earned returns.

Wondering if it’s now back to business as usual for Chocolate Finance? Well, not quite. While they’ve caught up to the avalanche of withdrawal requests that made them pause instant withdrawals in the first place, Chocolate Finance isn’t reverting back to the instant withdrawals they originally had. It will instead continue to process withdrawals a the 3 – 6 business day timeline.

 

That’s it for this week! Stay tuned for next week’s What’s Happening This Week to keep up with the latest in finance, business, and beyond.