PUBLISHED ONAugust 06, 2024 9:35 AMByKhoo Yi-HangNon-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai has raised doubts regarding Income Insurance's social mission in Parliament, prompting a response from Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan on Tuesday (Aug 6).
"The NTUC Enterprise has no basis to give the assurance that Income's social mission will be continued," Leong stated.
"Because after all, if you sell a majority stake to a private company, you cannot have that assurance given to Singaporeans for the very long term."
Leong, who is also an independent director of an insurance company registered in Singapore, was raising questions following the announcement by German company Allianz on July 17 that they have plans to purchase a majority stake in Income Insurance for $2.2 billion for 51 per cent of shares.
In response, Minister Tan said: "I've explained, and in NTUC's statement, it has already said that Allianz has assured that it is committed to honouring Income's existing policies."
This includes participating in national insurance programmes and continuing its charity commitments, which also involves the 2021 pledge of $100 million over 10 years.
This money is going towards promoting social mobility among lower-income earners and supporting the well-being of seniors, The Straits Times reported on Monday.
Tan also elaborated on this statement in a later reply, highlighting NTUC's history: "These are proof points that the social mission remains true, that in crisis, and in peacetime, NTUC's [social mission] remains true.
"Since its founding in 1961, NTUC has protected and uplifted workers, lives and livelihoods - if you meet the workers, they will tell you."
More recently, NTUC has also worked to raise wages of low wage workers through the Progressive Wage Model - "Again a social mission focused on workers, because every worker matters," Tan asserted.
"Throughout the years, the decades, NTUC's social enterprise has contributed over $300 million to various charity programmes, so NTUC has shown time and time again since its founding... that it has continued its social mission... not just talked about it, but fulfilled it."
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In Parliament, several MPs stood up to ask questions about the deal, including Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh.
Referring to a statement made by Income secretary-general Ng Chee Meng on Monday, Singh enquired about the commitment to keeping insurance affordable for lower income policyholders.
In response, Second Minister of Finance Chee Hong Tat said that Ng had gone "beyond what is the regulatory requirement" of assurance because the latter "understands the concerns" locals might have.
"What MAS will focus on... we will make sure that terms and conditions of the existing policies will not change after the proposed deal has gone through," Chee said.
"That is something that we will hold Income and Allianz to, and that is something that will be part of our regulatory approach."
khooyihang@asiaone.com
