“I don’t think it’s a good idea to sell INCOME” says Tommy Koh about S$2.2 billion Allianz offer.

Emeritus Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-At-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has spoken out on Facebook about the recent offer by Allianz, the world’s largest insurance company to buy 51 percent of INCOME Insurance for S$2.2 billion.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to sell INCOME. It was founded to serve a social purpose and a social need. They remain valid today. I wish to argue that INCOME and Fairprice should never be sold.”

NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Limited (NTUC Income) was founded in 1970 as a social enterprise to provide affordable insurance policies for low-income Singapore households. In 2022 the co-operative became a corporation, renamed INCOME Insurance.

The Allianz offer

Allianz made its offer on the 17th of July 2024, stating that this strategic investment in INCOME Insurance would accelerate growth and create a highly competitive composite insurer in Singapore. This acquisition will make Allianz Asia’s fourth-largest insurer, up from its current ninth place.

Allianz’s offer is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

As a pre-condition of this sale, Allianz will honour an existing S$100 million, 10-year pledge made in 2021 to promote social mobility amongst the low-income.

Former NTUC Income CEO agrees with Professor Koh

Mr. Tan Suee Chieh, former CEO of NTUC Income (2007 – 2013) and Group CEO of NTUC Enterprise (2013 – 2017), fully agrees with Professor Koh. Referring to a statement that Oliver Beate, Group CEO of Allianz made during an interview with the Business Times that “we are not in the business of selling products that don’t provide what we call minimum value to clients.”

“I believe the values of NTUC Income when we were running it as a cooperative were diametrically opposite to what Oliver Baete said here. We wanted to have as much reach to Singaporeans (the top line), not to maximise profits but to maximise social impact.”