DBS Vickers Online Issues

DBS Vickers Online "service" is not working this morning. I could not log on. DBS-V posted the following .............

QUOTE

Technical issue affecting Singapore market

Please be informed that there is a technical issue with our system currently. As a result, you may encounter difficulty with trading in the Singapore market. We are resolving the issue urgently.

We do apologise if we are unable to attend to your calls promptly because of the high calls volume to our hotline arising from the system issue.

DBS Vickers Online
22 Jul 2011

UNQUOTE

It seems that whenever there is slightly higher than normal activity, DBS-Vickers has a problem with its online service. I could not get through to my broker either! I had seen today as a selling opportunity.

It has happen a few times in the past to DBS before, and they are Damn Bloody Slow in resolving this kind of issue...I am thinking of moving my business to somewhere else.

Yea, I'm pretty disappointed.

I've heard of problems with POEMS before but this is the first I've had with DBS Vickers. There was a bit of problems with the site yesterday around the same time too and I fired off an email to them. Kudos to their hotline though, they called me back not too long after but the problem was already resolved by then.

I guess this is why we all should have a backup brokerage account.

Thank you Kazukirai and Ben,

I believe your advice is very wise regarding the need a back-up (online) brokerage account. Sensible.

When I tried calling DBS-Vickers this morning, the phone rang then became engaged. Seems like they do not have a contingency plan for this kind of thing.

Does anyone know of a Singapore (online) broker who they find reliable, whose online service does not go down too often and when there are problems seem to get them fixed quickly?? Would be interested to learn of others views on this. Any helpfull advice would be most welcome.

(22-07-2011, 10:47 AM)RBM Wrote: Thank you Kazukirai and Ben,

I believe your advice is very wise regarding the need a back-up (online) brokerage account. Sensible.

When I tried calling DBS-Vickers this morning, the phone rang then became engaged. Seems like they do not have a contingency plan for this kind of thing.

Does anyone know of a Singapore (online) broker who they find reliable, whose online service does not go down too often and when there are problems seem to get them fixed quickly?? Would be interested to learn of others views on this. Any helpfull advice would be most welcome.

At one time iOCBC online was rated the local best.

(22-07-2011, 10:47 AM)RBM Wrote: I believe your advice is very wise regarding the need a back-up (online) brokerage account. Sensible.

No problem. I had a similar encounter before- not so much that the platform was down but that the Internet Browser was not supported. I was using only Kim Eng (KE) before Vickers but KE only supports IE with flash enabled and not Firefox (long story as to why I can't use IE with flash).

So, lesson learnt for me is not just Platform Reliability but make sure there aren't any browser compatibility issues as well.

I personally have POEMs and CIMB as well but never really got around to exploring the platforms. At a brief glance though, my opinion is that the POEMS interface looks horribly user-UNfriendly. CIMB no comments. A friend of mine's been using UOB-Kayhian w/o any problems (none that I know of from him) too.

Since a/cs are free to open, I guess you could sign up and try them out to see which works for you.

I agree that UOB-KH is pretty slick. In fact, there are 3 brokerage that uses the same interface (slightly customised) that is very friendly, quite pleasing on the eyes and very reliable. The other two and Lim & Tan and DMG. So far I dun have any problems with any of these.

The old iOCBC was a technical mess. The new one looks much better but I dun used it much because of the problems in the past.

POEMS is unquestionably the most horrible trading platform in Spore. But as they are the only one who offers on-line Unit Share access at $10/trade, I still uses it whenever I need to buy/sell odd lot shares.

I have an account with Goh Direct but I was happy problem accessing at work so has not used it for a while. I have not tried how it was since CIMB takes over its operation. I also do not used my AM Frasers for a while.

Which brings us to DBSVickers. I've been with them for a long time before DBS bought them over. I never really have problems with them in the past and will admit that yesterday was the first time I ever have any problem accessing their site. And even then, they recovered pretty quickly. So all in, no complains. I also like that their watchlists allowed you to customised the order. All other trading platforms list their watchlists in alphabetical order.

In summary: I used DBSV for all buy orders; POEMS for unit shares orders; and either UOB-KH or L&T for sell orders.

Lonewolf and Kazukirai,

Again ........... many thanks for your help and advice. I sincerely appreciate it that you have spent your time on this subject, living the values of this best-in-class website community. I am following-up to get a "back-up" online broker and will revert on how this goes.

A. It seems like DBS-Vickers are following-up to last Friday morning's debacle with some serious maintenance to their online platform. When I tried to log in just now I got the following message ..........

QUOTE

System Maintenance Notice

We will be conducting a scheduled system maintenance on this website from 23 Jul 2011 8:00PM to 24 Jul 2011 9:00AM. Please note that you will not be able to log on to the trading site during this period.

We apologize for any inconveniences caused.

DBS Vickers Online
23 Jul 2011

UNQUOTE

Probably a good thing. Anything to enhance their online platform's robustness.

B. Judging from the private messages I have received in my private v'buddies inbox, it is clear to me that this particular thread is being read quite widely amongst Singapore's stockbroking community!! Also ......... probably a good thing.

Have a great weekend.

Quote:DBS Vickers Online "service" is not working this morning...
I guess this is why we all should have a backup brokerage account.

Quote:I believe your advice is very wise regarding the need a back-up (online) brokerage account. Sensible.

I have online brokerage accounts with iOCBC, UOB-Kayhian, Poems and DBS Vickers. Based on personal experience, all of them have a history of break-downs when trading volume is high. Therefore, if one treats investing/trading seriously like running a business operation, then having a back-up brokerage account should be in place as a basic technical risk-management operation. Given that it is free to have multiple brokerage accounts, there is absolutely no good reason not to do so.

Take note that there may still be a problem even if you have multiple brokerage accounts as backup. Most of us use one single broker exclusively to keep things simple and convenient. Thus, one may not have enough buy/sell limits granted by the back-up broker when the need arises to utilize them. To solve this problem, one has to trade occasionally using the back-up broker to keep the buy/sell limits available. Buy/sell limits are granted based on your trading frequency.

Quote:In summary: I used DBSV for all buy orders; POEMS for unit shares orders; and either UOB-KH or L&T for sell orders.

Hi Lonewolf, this is a skilful operation of extracting the best value from the brokers. I guess you are using DBS cash-upfront for buying and UOB-KH/L&T for selling to minimize your commission. Brilliant!

(24-07-2011, 10:11 AM)hyom Wrote:

Quote:DBS Vickers Online "service" is not working this morning...
I guess this is why we all should have a backup brokerage account.

Quote:I believe your advice is very wise regarding the need a back-up (online) brokerage account. Sensible.

I have online brokerage accounts with iOCBC, UOB-Kayhian, Poems and DBS Vickers. Based on personal experience, all of them have a history of break-downs when trading volume is high. Therefore, if one treats investing/trading seriously like running a business operation, then having a back-up brokerage account should be in place as a basic technical risk-management operation. Given that it is free to have multiple brokerage accounts, there is absolutely no good reason not to do so.

Take note that there may still be a problem even if you have multiple brokerage accounts as backup. Most of us use one single broker exclusively to keep things simple and convenient. Thus, one may not have enough buy/sell limits granted by the back-up broker when the need arises to utilize them. To solve this problem, one has to trade occasionally using the back-up broker to keep the buy/sell limits available. Buy/sell limits are granted based on your trading frequency.

Quote:In summary: I used DBSV for all buy orders; POEMS for unit shares orders; and either UOB-KH or L&T for sell orders.

Hi Lonewolf, this is a skilful operation of extracting the best value from the brokers. I guess you are using DBS cash-upfront for buying and UOB-KH/L&T for selling to minimize your commission. Brilliant!

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The cheapest brokerage fees for selling stocks purchased with cash only (No CPF's Stock) is Citi Bank.
I tried to open an account with them, it took almost 15 days (with to & fro, to & fro queries) and still not open yet. In desperation, a little worm (me) dared to tell them you either opened my account today (the 15 day already) or voided the application. Of course the application was voided.

It seems Citi Bank not so interested to earn brokerage fee. Look like this is not their bread & butter in Singapore. Even then isn't $business is $business? $ is $?
Any one any experience to share - opening a brokerage account at Citi Bank. The cheapest brokerage fee in town advertised but not so keen to accept client.