How to buy T-bills with CPF

Informational only, not financial advice. Process details below are current as of Q2 2026 based on MAS, CPF, and bank documentation. Fees change; verify on your bank’s CPFIS schedule before applying.

Using CPF OA to buy T-bills is one of the most popular retail moves in Singapore. The case is simple: if T-bill yields are above 2.5%, you earn more than OA’s floor. But the fees, timing, and dead-money gotchas eat into that gain — sometimes enough to wipe it out. Here’s the full picture.

What you need

1. CPF Investment Scheme - Ordinary Account (CPFIS-OA) account with DBS/POSB, OCBC, or UOB. Open once, use for all CPFIS-OA investments.
2. CPF Investment Self-Awareness Questionnaire (SAQ) completed. There is a short processing period before your first investment can be made — check your bank’s CPFIS portal for the current wait time.
3. OA balance above S$20,000. The first S$20,000 of your OA cannot be invested under CPFIS-OA. Only amounts above this floor are available. Source

What about CPFIS-SA?

T-bills are on the CPFIS-SA approved instrument list, alongside SGS bonds, fixed deposits, statutory board bonds (secondary market only), annuities, endowment policies, and selected unit trusts / ILPs / ETFs. Source

For members under 55, CPFIS-SA still works: only SA savings above S$40,000 can be invested. Because the SA floor rate is materially higher than the OA floor rate, the bar for T-bills to “beat” SA is steeper, and many under-55 members deliberately leave their SA untouched. Operationally, CPFIS-SA T-bill subscription is offered by your CPFIS agent bank (DBS, OCBC or UOB) and the exact flow can vary between banks — confirm before assuming it’s a one-click option.

For members 55 and above, the Special Account was closed in January 2025 — balances moved to RA (up to Full Retirement Sum) and any remainder went to OA at 2.5%. As of that date, no 55+ member has an SA, so CPFIS-SA simply doesn’t apply to them. Source

This article focuses on CPFIS-OA for T-bills, by far the most common path used by retail members.

The application flow (online only)

All three banks now support online CPFIS-OA T-bill applications. No physical bank visit needed. Source

DBS/POSB

1. Log in to digibank web or digibank mobile
2. Go to Invest → Singapore Government Securities (SGS)
3. Select current T-bill auction
4. Choose “CPFIS-OA” as funding source
5. Enter amount (min S$1,000, multiples of S$1,000)
6. Submit before the bank’s CPFIS processing cutoff — typically by end of the business day before the auction. MAS closes bids at ~12 noon on auction day; banks need time to process CPFIS applications before that, so submit earlier rather than later.

OCBC

1. Log in to OCBC internet banking or OCBC Digital app
2. Go to Investments → SGS / T-bills
3. Select auction, choose CPFIS-OA
4. Same S$1,000 minimum; same ~1-day-ahead cutoff

UOB

1. Log in to UOB internet banking (PIB)
2. Go to Investment → Singapore Government Securities
3. Select T-bill auction, choose CPFIS-OA funding
4. UOB supports online CPFIS-OA T-bill applications (has since late 2023).

Fees — and why they matter

Typical CPFIS charges per transaction (rates vary slightly by bank; verify on your bank’s CPFIS schedule):

Fee	Amount (incl. 9% GST)
Transaction fee (per application)	~S$2.50 + GST ≈ S$2.73
Quarterly service charge (per holding, per counter)	S$2.00 + GST ≈ S$2.18/quarter

A 6-month T-bill spans two quarters (e.g. bought April, matures October). So you pay:

• S$2.73 transaction fee (application)
• S$2.18 × 2 = S$4.36 quarterly fees (two quarters)
• Total ~S$7 in fees per 6-month T-bill

Sources: CPFIS fees (CPF PDF) · OCBC CPFIA schedule · DBS CPFIA schedule · UOB CPFIS charges

Fees shown are representative of Q2 2026 schedules across the three banks. Actual charges can vary by bank and are revised periodically — verify your bank’s current CPFIS fee schedule (linked above) before transacting.

On S$10,000: S$7 in fees is 0.07%. On S$1,000: S$7 is 0.7% — often larger than the yield spread over OA 2.5%. Small allocations don’t make sense.

The dead-money gotcha (the big one)

This is where most first-time CPFIS T-bill users get hurt:

1. You buy a 6-month T-bill with OA funds. Money is debited from OA, earning T-bill yield for 182 days.
2. T-bill matures. Principal + interest is returned to your CPF Investment Account (CPFIA), not directly to OA.
3. CPFIA pays zero interest. The money sits there earning nothing until you (manually transfer) or the bank (auto-sweeps after ~2 months) moves it back to OA.
4. During that dead period, you’ve lost the OA 2.5% floor you’d have earned if the money had stayed in OA.

Net math: if a T-bill yields 3.0% and OA yields 2.5%, the spread is 0.5% for 6 months = ~0.25% on principal. If your cash then sits in CPFIA for 2 months earning 0% instead of 2.5% in OA, you lose ~2.5%/12×2 = 0.42% on principal. Net: you’re worse off.

Sources: Growbeansprout CPFIS→OA guide

How to avoid the dead-money trap

• Manually transfer from CPFIA to OA on the day your T-bill matures. All three banks support this via their CPFIA interface.
• Roll into the next T-bill auction — if the next auction is close to your maturity date, you skip the dead period.
• Weigh yield spread against fees + dead time. A rough heuristic (not a formula): the T-bill cutoff sitting roughly ~0.8% above OA’s 2.5% (so around 3.3%+) is often cited as the break-even point after typical fees and 2 months of CPFIA dead-money drag. The actual break-even depends on your specific fees, how quickly you transfer CPFIA back to OA, and how large the allocation is — run the numbers with the calculator for your situation rather than relying on a single cut-off.

Current T-bill vs CPF OA math

As of Q2 2026, recent T-bill cutoffs have been below the 2.5% OA floor — meaning CPFIS-OA T-bills are actively losing money vs. just leaving funds in OA. Check current rates on the T-bill tracker before deciding.

Competitive vs non-competitive when using CPF

Under CPFIS-OA you can submit both bid types. Practical guidance:

• Non-competitive is simpler — you accept the cutoff yield. Capped at 40% of issue size and S$1M per individual per auction.
• Competitive requires picking a yield. The risk: if your bid is too low, you’re shut out. If too high, you still receive the cutoff.

Most retail CPFIS users submit non-competitive.

Other gotchas

• First S$20,000 of OA is excluded from investing. You cannot deploy this portion into T-bills even if you want to.
• Some banks limit CPFIS-OA transactions to office hours for same-day processing. MAS closes bids at ~12 noon on auction day — submit your CPFIS application at least one full business day before to be safe.
• Maturity proceeds in CPFIA do not count toward the First $20K protection. They’re part of the investable balance.
• Inactive CPFIA counters may still incur quarterly fees (S$2 per quarter). Close unused counters if you stop using CPFIS.

When it does make sense

CPFIS-OA T-bills are compelling when:

• T-bill cutoff is materially above OA 2.5% (e.g., 3.5%+), AND
• You’re deploying at least S$10,000 (fees drop to negligible %), AND
• You’ll roll into the next auction or manually transfer on maturity (no dead-money period).

Otherwise, leaving OA funds alone is usually the better move.

Related reading

• CPF OA vs SSB: which wins for retirement? — the broader CPF vs retail fixed-income question
• T-bill auctions explained — how non-competitive bidding works
• T-bill tracker — current cutoff yields, auction calendar