Everything about POSB Smart Buddy Programme

I believe many might have read about POSB Smart Buddy programme recently, here is some more information on it. Personally, I like the idea of POSB Smart Buddy as it helps the students to understand how to spend and save wisely.

Admiralty Primary School students show off their POSB Smart Buddy watches

What is POSB Smart Buddy Programme (储蓄银行智能伙伴计划)

  • World’s first in-school wearable tech savings and payments programme by POSB
  • The programme outfits schools with digital payment infrastructure, provides students watches with digital payment and fitness tracking capabilities and comes with a mobile app for parents.
  • Current 6,000 students are participating in the programme.

How Does POSB Smart Buddy Programme Works

Here is a video on how it works and how this programme helps the students, parents and even the vendors in the schools.

What are the benefits of this programme

  1. Teaching students how to save and manage expenses: Daily transactions are tracked on the POSB Smart Buddy app (with a three-month transaction history provided), so students can monitor their savings and spending patterns over time. Students can create their own savings goals on the app, with completed goals recorded as badges. They can also buy digital Smiley Stamps at 50 cents each at their school bookstore to complete their digital stamp savings card. Once the card is complete, the savings will be automatically transferred to their POSBkids savings account. Finally, students can also use the watch to pay for purchases at all merchants with NETS contactless terminals, such as POPULAR bookstores.
  2. Greater convenience for parents, coupled with security: Parents can link their savings account with the POSB Smart Buddy app and effectively manage their child’s spending by setting a daily allowance limit. They can also view their child’s purchases in real-time, and increase the daily allowance limit remotely for emergency spending money. Accumulated savings can be automatically transferred into their child’s POSBkids account. If the child loses their watch, parents can remotely disable the devices in an instant.
  3. Fitness and health tracking: The POSB Smart Buddy watch also doubles as a fitness tracker and can track students’ daily steps, distance travelled, and calories burnt. Parents can in turn check in their child’s fitness using the app.
  4. Financial assistance scheme (FAS) support: Working with schools, the programme automatically credits students on FAS with their subsidies and allowances – replacing the usual coupons or vouchers. Support is therefore provided discreetly to needy students.
  5. (Upcoming features) Location tracker and biometric feature: The programme may soon feature an in-school locator, which allows parents to track their child’s location within the school compound (canteen, library, classroom, etc.), and a school bus locator where parents can track the real-time location of the bus and be notified when their child boards or alights from the school bus. Both features are currently in the testing phase. Plans are also underway to introduce a biometric payment solution, to provide an even simpler payment journey.
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I especially like the feature that the accumulated savings can be automatically transferred to the children’s POSBkids account.

 

 

 

 

Find out More about POSB Smart Buddy Programme

Schools or parents who wish to find out more about the POSB Smart Buddy programme can visit www.posb.com.sg/smartbuddy or email posbsmartbuddy@dbs.com.

 

 

 

 

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