Bank filter recipes

The exact sender address to put in your filter for each Singapore bank, so only the alerts you want reach Cova. Copy the address, make one filter per bank, forward it to your Cova capture address.

First, set up your capture address. These recipes are step 4 of connecting your bank. If you haven't yet copied your Cova capture address and confirmed the forwarding code, do Connect your bank alerts steps 1–3 first, then come back here.

How to read a recipe

Each recipe gives you one thing: the sender address to filter on. In Gmail that goes in the From field of a new filter; you then tick Forward it to and pick your Cova address. The generic steps are the same for every bank:

  1. Gmail → Settings (gear → See all settings) → Filters and Blocked Addresses → Create a new filter.
  2. Paste the recipe's address into From → Create filter.
  3. Tick Forward it to → choose your Cova capture address → Create filter.
  4. Repeat for the next bank. One filter per bank.
Test any recipe in 5 seconds: paste its address into the Gmail search bar. If your bank's alerts show up in the results, the filter will fire. If nothing shows, that bank hasn't been emailing you alerts — turn them on in your banking app first.

Recipes read automatically

Cova reads these Singapore alerts with a purpose-built parser — captured, categorised and on your timeline within about a minute.

Trust Bank From: [email protected]

Covers card spend, local transfers and salary/received money. Trust also carries your Grab and other card purchases (they appear as the merchant on the card alert), so this one recipe captures a lot.

DBS / POSB — iBanking alerts From: [email protected]

The transaction alerts from DBS/POSB internet banking (PayNow and FAST transfers, card and GIRO notifications). Turn alerts on in digibank → Settings → Alerts & Notifications if you don't get them yet.

DBS PayLah! From: [email protected]

PayLah! payment and received-money alerts. Wallet top-ups from your own DBS account are recognised as transfers, not spending.

Grab — e-receipts (optional) From: [email protected]

Only needed if you don't pay for Grab with a card that already alerts you. If your Grab rides show up via your Trust or bank card alert, skip this — Cova de-duplicates the overlap, but leaving it off is simpler.

Any other bank read by AI

Cova can also read many other banks' alerts with AI — OCBC, UOB, HSBC, Citi, Standard Chartered and more — as long as your bank actually emails you a per-transaction alert. There's no fixed recipe to memorise; the approach is:

  1. Turn on transaction alerts (often called "email notifications" or "transaction advice") in your bank's app or internet banking.
  2. Make a Gmail filter with that bank's alert sender in From — check your inbox for the exact address, or just filter on the bank's domain (e.g. from:ocbc.com).
  3. Forward it to your Cova address.

Not sure it'll be read? Prove it once. Forward a single recent alert from that bank to your Cova address by hand. Within a minute it either lands on your timeline, or shows as skipped under More → Auto-capture bank alerts → recent activity.

If it's skipped, email the alert to [email protected] and we'll add support for that bank.

Two mistakes to avoid

Don't combine banks with commas. from:([email protected],[email protected]) is accepted by Gmail, looks right in the filter list, then silently matches nothing. Use a separate filter per bank — or if you must combine, capitalised OR: from:([email protected] OR [email protected]).

Filters aren't retroactive. They only act on mail that arrives after you save them. Alerts already in your inbox won't forward on their own — forward those by hand, once.

Not on Gmail?

Outlook / Hotmail: Settings → Mail → Rules → add a rule "From [address] → Forward to [your Cova address]". iCloud Mail: icloud.com/mail → Settings → Rules → same idea. Yahoo: Settings → Filters. The recipe — the sender address — is identical; only the menu names differ. Work email usually blocks external auto-forwarding, so use the personal address your alerts go to.