Why does NTUC Income educate its customers about cooperative values?

HERE IS MY REPLY TO THIS QUESTION FROM A NEW ZEALAND COOPERATIVE LEADER.

NTUC Income has to compete in a competitive market.

In the case of life insurance products that will only mature in 20 years or longer, the consumer is often not clear about the return that they can get from our products, compared to other products offered by the commercial insurance companies. Some of our competitors make bold projections of the return from their products. As the projections are not guaranteed, they can get away with high projections that may be unsustainable.

In such situations, it is important for us to educate the consumers about the cooperative model. Our cooperative shareholders get a modest return on their shares. The remaining profits is distributed as bonus to the policyholders of participating policies.

By educating the consumers, they are more likely to choose NTUC Income for their long term investments.

We educate the consumers at various levels:

- through our insurance advisers who meet them face to face
- through our newsletters sent regularly to our policyholders
- through advertisements and media releases.

We also educate our policyholders that they pay a lower premium on their non-life insurance products, as our aim is to cover the claims and expenses. We do not aim to make a large profit for shareholders.

Tan Kin Lian
CEO, NTUC Income