cmon guys give that fella a break. if he earns his money not through immoral or criminal means he has a right to spend it as he see fit.

but me, i believe in moderation. good old warren buffet still lives in his old double storey house bought 30 years ago and drives a (relatively) old car. i think there's virtue in that

StanChart priority banking giving a Samsung netbook for new signups. Worthwhile?

How is Stanchart service compared to say, Citi or Hsbc? Hsbc has a very interesting service where you are able to access ALL your Hsbc accounts overseas from one site. I've considered opening with them but i had bad experience using their Partner service years ago, and don't feel like going back with them just now.

yeah but not really that long la. i think it closed in 2003/04? it was kind of ahead of it's time and is really a precursor to all the priority services that is common now. i think at that time 100k was the qualifying level.

but yeah, i was quite pissed when they abruptly ended the service. worse thing is after conversion to powervantage my charges actually increased! so i told them to f.o. and never banked with them since.

anway stanchart claimed on their website they are coming out with a "global link" account soon. somewhat similar to hsbc's global access facility. so there's one more reason now to give them a try.

the samsung netbook looks really good. and i think so far is the "best" gift i've come across for new priority accounts for any bank.

no it's not out yet. only in dec09 according to the website http://priority.standardchartered.com.my/e...alServices.html

anyway it's not big deal, with communication levels nowadays it's not like it's impossible to add this feature. only a matter of demand. now that cimb is trying to rebrand itself as a regional bank with the just launched preferred, i'm quite sure they too will be adding such a feature in the not too distant future.