The Etiqa Tiq 3-Year Endowment Plan is a single-premium, non-participating savings policy: you pay one lump sum from S$5,000, lock it for three years, and Etiqa pays back your capital plus a guaranteed yield at maturity. Recent tranches have paid roughly 3.4% to 3.56% per annum guaranteed, with capital guaranteed if you hold to the end and 101% of your premium paid if you die during the term. In 2026 that matters more than it did two years ago. The 6-month T-bill cut-off has fallen to about 1.47%, the best 12-month fixed deposit sits near 1.60%, and the Singapore Savings Bond first-year rate is 1.46%. A guaranteed 3%-plus locked in for three years now beats every mainstream cash option by roughly two percentage points. The trade-off is liquidity: pull out early and your surrender value can be less than what you put in. This is parked money you genuinely will not touch for three years, not your emergency fund.
It is a single-premium endowment policy underwritten by Etiqa Insurance and sold online through the Tiq platform. You pay once, the policy runs for exactly three years, and at maturity you get a guaranteed lump sum back. There is no monthly premium and no top-up; one payment, one payout.
It is non-participating, which matters. A participating policy pays a guaranteed portion plus non-guaranteed bonuses that depend on how the insurer's fund performs. This plan has no bonuses to wait on. The rate you are quoted at sign-up is the rate you get, full stop. That makes the return easy to compare against a fixed deposit or T-bill, because there is nothing fuzzy to discount.
Etiqa releases it in limited tranches. Each tranche has a fixed guaranteed yield and a funding cap, and once that cap is hit the plan shows as fully subscribed until the next tranche opens. Rates have moved with the market over the years, from as low as 1.62% in 2021 up to the 3.4% to 3.56% range in recent tranches, so the headline number you see depends entirely on which tranche is live when you apply.
The number Etiqa quotes is a guaranteed yield to maturity, expressed per annum. Because it is single-premium and held for the full term, the per-annum figure compounds over three years into a larger total return. A 3.56% p.a. tranche works out to about 11.06% total over the three years, so S$10,000 in returns roughly S$11,106 at maturity. A 3.40% p.a. tranche returns close to 10.55% in total.
Older tranches occasionally bundled a higher headline rate. The 2023 tranche that ranks well online advertised up to 4.80% p.a., but only the 3.40% base was paid on the endowment itself; the extra 1.40% came from buying a separate Etiqa insurance product, capped at S$20,000 of premium. Read those split rates carefully. The guaranteed yield on the endowment is the base figure, not the bundled headline.
Work out the dollar figure before you commit. On a S$50,000 premium at 3.5% p.a., you are looking at roughly S$5,440 of guaranteed gain over three years. Our compound interest calculator lets you plug in the exact tranche rate and premium to see the maturity value.
| Guaranteed yield p.a. | Approx. total return over 3 yrs | Maturity value | Guaranteed gain |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.40% | 10.55% | S$55,275 | S$5,275 |
| 3.50% | 10.87% | S$55,436 | S$5,436 |
| 3.56% | 11.06% | S$55,532 | S$5,532 |
The single headline rate hides a structure worth understanding before you wire the money. Across several tranches Etiqa has split the quoted yield into a base rate that applies to your whole premium and a top-up rate that only applies up to a premium ceiling. The May 2023 tranche, for example, paid a 3.00% p.a. base on the full premium and added 0.50% p.a. on only the first S$25,000, so a S$25,000 policy earned the full 3.50% but a S$100,000 policy earned a blended rate closer to the base. Some tranches put the extra rate behind a separate purchase instead: the 2023 'up to 4.80%' headline was 3.40% on the endowment plus 1.40% that required buying a qualifying Etiqa insurance plan.
Two numbers decide your real return, then: the base guaranteed yield on the endowment, and whether any uplift is capped by premium size or gated behind buying a second product. Read the live tranche's terms and conditions for both. If the uplift is capped at, say, the first S$25,000, splitting a larger sum across the cap and the base does not help, because you would still hold the same plan; the cap is per policy on the bonus portion, not a way to multiply it.
Work the effective rate before you commit. Take the base yield, add any uplift only on the slice of premium it actually covers, and divide by your total premium. Our compound interest calculator turns that blended rate into a maturity figure, and the premium entry explains why single-premium pricing differs from regular-premium plans.
Two protections sit underneath this plan. First, your capital is guaranteed if you hold to maturity. Because the maturity benefit is contractually guaranteed and exceeds your premium, you cannot lose money by holding the full three years, regardless of what markets do.
Second, the policy is covered by the Policy Owners' Protection (PPF) Scheme, administered by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC). The official product summary confirms coverage is automatic with no action needed from you. Per SDIC, the PPF Scheme protects 100% of the guaranteed benefits of life policies issued by member insurers, subject to caps. For individual life policies the caps are S$500,000 on aggregated guaranteed sum assured and S$100,000 on aggregated guaranteed surrender value, per life assured per insurer, so an endowment within those limits is fully covered even if the insurer fails. That is a different scheme from the SDIC deposit insurance that covers bank fixed deposits, but the practical effect for you is similar: a statutory backstop.
What is not protected is your timing. The guarantee only applies at maturity. Surrender in year one or two and you may get back less than you paid, which is the single biggest reason people regret buying these.
The underwriter is Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. (UEN 201331905K), a MAS-licensed Singapore insurer owned by Maybank Ageas Holdings, a joint venture between Malaysia's Maybank and the European insurer Ageas. That parentage, plus the PPF Scheme backstop, is why the guarantee is treated as low-risk rather than speculative.
Guaranteed issuance is convenient, but it does not mean every death pays out the full 101% from day one. The product summary lists exclusions for the first 12 months from the policy issue date. If the life insured dies by suicide or a self-inflicted act, sane or insane, within those first 12 months, Etiqa refunds the premiums paid without interest rather than the 101% death benefit. The same refund-only treatment applies to death from a pre-existing condition within the first 12 months. After the first year these exclusions fall away and the 101% benefit applies in full for the rest of the term.
There is one more carve-out to note. For conditions specific to the life insured that Etiqa excludes, a covered event pays the higher of premiums paid without interest or the surrender value, not the headline death benefit. All payouts, death or maturity, are made less any outstanding amount owing on the policy. None of this changes the maturity outcome for a healthy holder, but if the plan is meant to double as a small protection layer for an older or unwell life insured, the first-year limits matter.
For a savings plan this size the death benefit is a rounding error on top of your capital, not real life cover. If protection is the goal, a separate term policy does the job far more cheaply; our insurance basics guide covers how to size cover properly rather than leaning on an endowment for it.
This is the part the marketing skims over. The endowment is a three-year commitment, and early exit is penalised. The official product summary states plainly that an early termination usually involves high costs and the surrender value, if any, may be zero or less than the total premiums paid. You are trading liquidity for the higher locked-in rate.
Compare that to the alternatives. A 6-month T-bill matures in six months. A Singapore Savings Bond can be redeemed in any month with no penalty and full accrued interest. A fixed deposit breaks with a loss of interest but usually returns your principal. The endowment is the least flexible of the lot, so the rate premium it pays is partly compensation for locking you in.
There is a 14-day free-look period: return the policy within 14 days of receiving the documents for a refund, less any costs Etiqa incurred. The clock starts from deemed delivery, not from purchase. If the documents come by email, the policy counts as delivered one day after Etiqa sends it; by post, seven days after posting. So your real window is roughly two weeks from when those documents land. After it closes, you are committed. Treat the premium as money you will not see again until maturity, and keep your emergency fund somewhere liquid instead.
Rates have fallen across the board, which flips the usual comparison. Through 2023 and early 2024, T-bills regularly cleared 3.7% to 3.9%, beating most short endowments. By June 2026 the 6-month T-bill cut-off was about 1.47%, the best 12-month fixed deposit roughly 1.60%, and the Singapore Savings Bond first-year rate 1.46% with a 10-year average of 2.11%. Against that backdrop a 3%-plus guaranteed endowment looks strong, but only if you can lock the money away.
The honest framing is rate versus access. The endowment pays the most but is the hardest to exit. T-bills and SSBs pay less but you get your money back quickly. If you have a three-year horizon and zero need for the cash in between, the endowment wins on yield today. If there is any chance you need it sooner, the flexibility of an SSB or short T-bill is worth the lower rate.
One competitor worth knowing: NTUC Income's Gro Capital Ease is a near-identical 3-year single-premium endowment that has paid around 3.55% p.a. in recent tranches. Its minimum is S$10,000 when bought online (S$20,000 through a financial adviser), so the Tiq plan's S$5,000 entry point is the lower of the two. If you are choosing between short endowments, compare the live tranche rates and the minimums side by side rather than the brand.
Tiq is not the only single-premium endowment sold online with no agent. The closest substitutes are NTUC Income's Gro Capital Ease and HSBC Life's Online Term Protector savings line, both 3-year plans with capital guaranteed at maturity and a small death benefit. Great Eastern's GREAT SP sits nearby but is usually a 2-year plan, so it answers a shorter horizon.
The structure is near-identical across all of them, so the decision comes down to three live numbers: the base guaranteed yield of the open tranche, the minimum premium, and whether any uplift is capped or bundled. Because every tranche sells out and reopens at a fresh rate, none of these plans is permanently 'the best'. Check the rate that is open the week you have the cash. The table below compares structure, not headline rates, because the rates shown anywhere online are almost always from a closed tranche.
If you want the broader picture on how short endowments work and where they fit, our endowment plan basics guide covers the category before you pick a provider.
| Plan | Provider | Typical term | Min. premium (online) | Sold by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiq 3-Year Endowment | Etiqa | 3 years | from S$5,000 (varies by tranche) | Online, no agent |
| Gro Capital Ease | NTUC Income | 3 years | S$10,000 online / S$20,000 via adviser | Online or adviser |
| HSBC Life Online Endowment | HSBC Life | 3 years | S$10,000 | Online, no agent |
| GREAT SP | Great Eastern | 2 years (shorter horizon) | S$10,000 | Online, no agent |
Pulling the cash alternatives into one view makes the trade-off concrete. The endowment sits at the high-rate, low-flexibility end; the Singapore Savings Bond sits at the low-rate, high-flexibility end. T-bills and fixed deposits land in between. Use the SSB vs T-bill vs fixed deposit comparison if you want to weigh just the three cash options against each other.
| Option | Indicative rate | Lock-in | Capital guaranteed | Early exit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiq 3-Year Endowment | ~3.4%-3.56% p.a. guaranteed | 3 years | At maturity only | Surrender value may be below premium |
| NTUC Income Gro Capital Ease | ~3.55% p.a. guaranteed | 3 years | At maturity only | Surrender penalty applies |
| 6-month T-bill | ~1.47% p.a. (Jun 2026 cut-off) | 6 months | At maturity (SGS-backed) | Sell on secondary market |
| Singapore Savings Bond | 1.46% yr 1 / 2.11% 10-yr avg | Up to 10 yrs, flexible | Yes, government-backed | Redeem any month, no penalty |
| 12-month fixed deposit | up to ~1.60% p.a. | 12 months | Yes (SDIC up to S$100k) | Break for loss of interest |
This works for someone sitting on a lump sum with a defined three-year horizon and no need to touch it: a deposit you will use in 2029, a bonus you want to grow without market risk, or cash you would otherwise leave idle in a low-interest savings account. The guaranteed rate and capital protection do a job a riskier cash-versus-investing decision can't, because there is no downside if you hold the term.
The plan is bought entirely online through Tiq, with no agent and no commission baked in. You apply with Singpass, choose your premium amount, and pay by PayNow QR. Because issuance is guaranteed, there are no health questions and no medical check-up; approval is near-instant once payment clears.
Timing is the real skill. Tranches sell out, sometimes within days of opening, and each tranche locks a different rate. If the current tranche is fully subscribed, you can register interest to be told when the next one opens. Watch the rate against prevailing T-bill and SSB yields, because in a falling-rate environment a freshly opened endowment tranche can lock in a yield that cash products no longer offer.
Maturity proceeds from a cash-funded endowment are not taxable income in Singapore. Life insurance payouts, including endowment maturity lump sums, fall outside income tax, so the guaranteed yield you see is what you keep. That is a small edge over some other instruments only if your interest were ever assessable, which for individuals it generally is not on T-bills or SSBs either, so in practice the field is level on tax for most people.
The one case to watch is funding the plan from your SRS account. SRS-funded policies usually return the maturity proceeds to your SRS account, and SRS withdrawals are taxable when you take them out. So an endowment bought with cash and one bought with SRS have very different tax footprints at the back end. If you are using SRS to chase a guaranteed yield, factor the eventual withdrawal tax into the real return, not just the headline rate.
It depends on the live tranche. Recent tranches have paid roughly 3.4% to 3.56% per annum guaranteed to maturity, which compounds to about 10.5% to 11.1% total over the three years. The 2023 tranche advertised up to 4.80% p.a., but only 3.40% was the endowment base rate; the rest required buying a separate insurance product. Always confirm the base guaranteed yield of the current tranche.
Yes, but only if you hold the policy to the end of the three-year term. At maturity the guaranteed benefit exceeds your premium, so you cannot lose money by holding. Surrender early and the value paid out can be zero or less than what you put in, per Etiqa's product summary.
S$5,000 per policy is the minimum single premium in the recent tranches. The per-policy maximum and the top-up increment vary by tranche, so confirm them on the live tranche's product page. You can hold more than one policy, including across different tranches, so you can stagger your money if you want.
Both are low-risk. The endowment is covered by the Policy Owners' Protection Scheme (SDIC), and a fixed deposit is covered by SDIC deposit insurance up to S$100,000 per depositor per bank. The practical difference is liquidity: an FD can be broken for a loss of interest, while the endowment may pay back less than your premium if you exit early.
You can surrender the policy, but you will likely take a loss. The surrender value in the early years is typically below the premiums you paid. There is a 14-day free-look period right after purchase where you can cancel for a refund, less any costs incurred, but after that the money is locked for the term.
No. The plan has guaranteed issuance, so there are no health questions and no medical examination. Approval is near-instant once your PayNow payment clears, as long as you meet the age and residency criteria.
If you fund it with cash, the maturity proceeds are not taxable. Life insurance and endowment payouts fall outside personal income tax. The exception is SRS-funded policies, where proceeds return to your SRS account and become taxable when you eventually withdraw from SRS.
Not always. Some tranches apply the top-up portion of the yield only up to a premium ceiling, such as the first S$25,000, with the rest of your premium earning the lower base rate. Other tranches put the extra rate behind buying a second insurance plan. Your real return is the blended rate across your whole premium, so check the live tranche's terms for the base yield and any cap before you decide how much to put in.
It depends on the cause. For the first 12 months from the policy issue date, death by suicide or a self-inflicted act, or death from a pre-existing condition, refunds your premiums without interest instead of paying the 101% death benefit. After the first year those exclusions fall away and the full 101% applies for the rest of the term. The 101% is a small sweetener on a savings plan, not a substitute for proper life cover.
All three are 3-year, single-premium, capital-guaranteed-at-maturity endowments sold online with no agent, so the structures are near-identical. Tiq's entry point starts from S$5,000 in some tranches, lower than the S$10,000 minimum on Gro Capital Ease (online) and the HSBC Life online endowment. Because every tranche sells out and reopens at a fresh rate, compare the base guaranteed yield and minimum of whichever tranches are actually open the week you have the cash, rather than the brand.
If you have a lump sum you will not need for three years, yes, the maths is favourable right now. With T-bills near 1.47%, the best fixed deposits around 1.60% and SSB first-year rates at 1.46%, a 3%-plus guaranteed endowment beats every liquid cash option by roughly two percentage points. The catch is the lock-in, so it only works for money you can leave untouched.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.