goh chok tong : challenges and opportunities for singapore ’ s insurance industry speech by mr goh chok tong, senior minister and chairman of the board of directors of the monetary authority of singapore, at the national trades union congress ( ntuc ) income 40th anniversary gala dinner, singapore, 22 october 2010. * * * 1. in 1990 and 2000, i had the pleasure of celebrating with you income ’ s 20th and 30th anniversaries. i am very happy to see that income has grown from strength to strength as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. naturally, i am anxiously looking forward to your 50th anniversary. formation of income and adhering to sound principles 2. income was another of the many initiatives of the late dr goh keng swee. at the “ modernisation of the labour movement ” seminar in 1969, he mooted the idea of setting up a life insurance co - operative ( “ co - op ” ). a year after, income was formed. 3. dr goh believed that a life insurance co - op would advance the cause of the labour movement. such a co - op would be fulfilling a genuine social need. by getting members of the working class to take out life insurance policies at a cost they can afford, the co - op will help them alleviate hardship at times of unexpected events and build up valuable savings for old age. besides, the labour movement is an inclusive one, bridging different communities, languages and even to some extent, status. the network of trade unions and branches would provide the life insurance co - op with a clear advantage over private enterprise. 4. to ensure that the co - op would succeed, the realist in dr goh laid down a few principles for its operation. first, the co - op must be fully competitive with private enterprises and cannot expect privileged treatment from the government. second, the co - op must have effective management. third, all levels of staff should be recruited based on merit and not affiliations with the labour movement or government. it was the steadfast adherence to these sound principles that has kept income successful over the past 40 years. the growth of singapore ’ s insurance industry 5. at income ’ s 30th anniversary celebration, i had sketched out the changes in the global financial landscape, and how mas had to liberalise the domestic insurance industry. reputable foreign insurers were allowed to set up in singapore or enter into strategic alliances with existing local insurers. the hope was

remain : anonymity, susceptibility to cybercrime and it issues. but above all those, a key issue arises : the problem of competition. will the central bank change into a direct competitor to commercial banks? will it serve as a “ bank of last resort ” for all deposits in bad times? should it also provide credit to the real economy? might it become a real monobank, like the ones we saw a few decades ago in former socialist countries? what would the entire money - creation process look like? these questions are too important to rush around. so far it seems to me like social engineering to talk about abolishing cash fully and issuing digital currency instead. as one of my colleagues once put it : we might have a novel solution, but do we really have a problem? thank you very much for your attention. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches