They fear Income’s mission to provide coverage for the lower-income groups will no longer apply.
Allianz has given assurances that it intends for Income to continue participation in national insurance programmes, including the IP plans.
“As a listed entity, Allianz is answerable to its shareholders who have elected the board of directors. How will it manage Income’s social mission in Singapore and its business goal of profit maximisation?” asked one Straits Times reader, a Singaporean who is also an Income policyholder.The Singaporean and his entire family have relied on the Integrated Shield Plans offered by Income to complement the basic healthcare provided by the MediShield Life health insurance plan.
The chief executive of insurance advisory Havend, Mr Eddy Cheong, noted that Income has been known to introduce products that might not be profitable but which would achieve a certain social outcome. “With the recent corporatisation and the impending deal, this may become less of a possibility in the long run,” he said.Mr Lee is among the Singaporeans seeking greater clarity.
Income was set up in November 1970, the first cooperative society to be established by NTUC, and it identifies closely with the values, mission and goals of the labour union. It was able to distribute special bonuses to policyholders, which observers said was possible as the insurer did not have to maximise profits for shareholders.
Industry observers said the potential deal makes business sense, and could help Income become a bigger player in the region, where Allianz is already active in 15 markets from Sri Lanka, China and Indonesia to Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. It might lower ratings on Income to reflect “the possibility of a decline in extraordinary support from the Singapore Government to the insurer” through its major shareholder, NTUC Enterprise Co-operative, which owns 72.8 per cent of Income.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Income Insurance in talks with Allianz over sharespstrongspan style="font-size:11pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"span style="color:000000"span style="font-weight:700"span style="font-style:normal"span style="text-decoration:none"The transaction is not, in any way, final.
Read more »
Allianz plans to buy $1.64 billion majority stake in Income InsuranceNTUC Enterprise Co-operative Ltd is expected to continue retaining a substantial stake in Income Insurance, despite the planned majority stake sale.
Read more »
Allianz offers to buy at least 51% of Income Insurance at $40.58 a share in cashNearly 16,000 minority shareholders holding 27.2 per cent stake in Income will get chance to cash out.
Read more »
Allianz plans to buy majority stake in Singapore's Income InsuranceFRANKFURT: Germany's Allianz said on Wednesday (Jul 17) that it was planning to buy a majority stake in Singapore's Income Insurance for around US$1.6 billion. Allianz said it would offer S$40.58 per share for a transaction value of S$2.2 billion (US$1.
Read more »
Allianz plans to acquire majority stake in Income Insurance for $1.64BpstrongspanspanspanspanspanspanThis is also equivalent to a 51% majority stake in the SG-based insurer./span/span/span/span/span/span/strong/p pa href="https://insuranceasia.
Read more »
Income Insurance continues talks with Allianzpstrongspan style="font-size:11pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"span style="color:000000"span style="font-weight:700"span style="font-style:normal"span style="text-decoration:none"It announced its interest in a transaction last 14 June.
Read more »