SINGAPORE – OCBC customer Chen Shu Ying began investing in the bank’s blue-chip investment plan (BCIP) more than five years ago, as the demands of her full-time job left her with little time to trade in the market herself.
“The plan was very helpful in that it helped to remove the mental burden and extra time required to purchase investments on my own, freeing up bandwidth for me to focus on my job, while also allowing me to stay invested in the market,” said the 37-year-old legal counsel.
The mother of two also values the convenience of automating her investments with a fixed monthly sum, while benefiting from the discipline of dollar-cost averaging – a strategy that automatically buys more shares or units when prices are low and fewer when prices are high, lowering the average cost per unit over time.
Chen is among a growing number of younger investors in Singapore turning to BCIPs as a way to start investing small and build up savings steadily.
Younger investors form the majority of overall and new BCIP investors, with total investors rising 35 per cent in the first half of 2026 compared with the year-ago period.
Those under 35 make up more than 25 per cent of OCBC’s total BCIP investors, while more than one in five of all BCIP investors are aged 35 to 39.
The OCBC BCIP, which was launched in 2013 and requires a minimum investment of $100 a month, allows investors to choose from a range of counters such as the three Singapore banks, Singapore Airlines, Singtel and ST Engineering, as well as exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Similar regular savings plans starting from $100 a month are also offered by other local lenders.
These include DBS’ Invest-Saver, which invests in unit trusts, ETFs or digiPortfolio – ready-made investment portfolios – as well as UOB’s Regular Investment Scheme, which invests in selected funds.
Meanwhile, MariBank’s Mari Invest Singapore Equity product gives investors access to Singapore stocks through the Amova Singapore Dividend Equity Fund from $1.
OCBC saw significant growth between 2024 and 2025, with the number of BCIP investors rising by nearly 30 per cent year on year.
This was also significantly higher than the low single-digit growth rate on average between 2020 and 2024.
Germaine Tan, OCBC head of treasury products and equities, attributed the uptick to various factors.
Speaking to The Straits Times at OCBC Centre, Tan said the BCIP offers investors an accessible option to gain exposure to Singapore equities amid growing attention to and interest in the Straits Times Index (STI).
The benchmark index has risen over 20 per cent so far in 2026.
Against the backdrop of the global environment, the STI outperformed the US S&P 500 in 2025, while Singapore’s reputation as a safe haven also helped drive growing investor interest in the local market, Tan noted.
Among the current holdings in OCBC’s BCIP, DBS, OCBC and the STI ETF together account for around 84 to 85 per cent of all unrealised customer gains.
OCBC said that first-time investors are putting more money to work.
The average monthly amount for new investors has grown by more than 40 per cent in the first half of 2026 compared with the year-ago period. The average amount per transaction for new investors has also grown by nearly 30 per cent year on year.
While nine in 10 of overall BCIP investors are personal banking customers, the proportion of new-to-BCIP investors with assets under management above $350,000 – or the mass affluent – has been increasing year on year.
BCIPs offer investors an accessible option to gain exposure to Singapore equities, says Germaine Tan.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Gerald Wong, founder of Singapore-based investment advisory platform Beansprout, said that dollar-cost averaging is a useful approach for investors who are building their growth pot for long-term compounding.
Investors often hesitate when markets are rising because they worry prices are too high, and hesitate when markets are falling because they fear prices may fall further.
Investing a fixed amount regularly takes some of that emotion out of the decision and helps investors stay consistent through different market conditions, he said.
“It does not guarantee better returns or protect investors from losses, but it reduces the need to make a market timing decision every month,” said Wong.
He added that the key is not to assume that regular investing eliminates investment risk, as investors need to be comfortable with the assets they are buying and the level of exposure they have to the Singapore market.
Investors should pay attention to the fees they are paying as well, he said.
For OCBC’s BCIP, customers below 30 enjoy a preferential fee of 0.88 per cent per transaction with no minimum fee, for investments of up to $500 per counter per month. For other customers, the standard fee is 0.3 per cent of the investment amount or $5 per counter, whichever is higher.
“That $5 minimum is particularly important for investors putting in small amounts. If someone invests $100 into one counter and pays a $5 fee, that is already 5 per cent of the amount invested,” said Wong.
Over a long investment horizon, costs matter because every dollar paid in fees is a dollar that is no longer compounding for the investor, he noted, adding that it is worth comparing the convenience of BCIPs against the fees and wider investment choices available through a brokerage account.
There are also limitations to a BCIP.
Wong said that a BCIP may be less ideal for investors whose main objective is to build a broadly diversified global portfolio, as the investment universe available through the plan is still relatively limited.
It may also be unsuitable for investors who want access to stocks, ETFs, markets or investment themes that are not offered under the BCIP, or who want greater control over their entry price and timing.
In this case, some investors may prefer buying directly through a brokerage which offers a wider range of assets, gives them greater control over when and at what price they invest, or offers more competitive transaction costs for the amounts they are investing, Wong noted.
While BCIPs do not offer a wide variety of counters, Chen said they could serve as a foundation for younger investors who have just started working or embarking on their investment journeys.
Such investors need to ensure that they are not plunging straight into high-risk investments, she noted.
“I would liken investing in BCIP to running at a measured and steady pace on a treadmill, rather than doing interval sprints, where you can get gassed out quite quickly,” she said.
