Jamus Lim on Insurance (Amendment) Bill

In Parliament on Wednesday (Oct 16), MP Jamus Lim documented “a troubling sequence of events” in the run-up to the public announcement on the Income-Allianz deal and its aftermath. He said what was presented as an “information gap” between the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) was in fact a communication breakdown both within the Government, and between the Government and the public. He raised questions including just how much MAS knew about Allianz’s capital extraction plan, why it did not consider this in view of Income being a Domestic Systemically Important Insurer, why there was no coordinated discussion between MAS and MCCY in advance of the proposed deal, and why the capital extraction plan was not mentioned in response to his Parliamentary question in September on whether MAS had required a commitment from Allianz to provide a capital adequacy injection to Income. Looking ahead, Assoc Prof Lim said future transactions of such importance should, at the outset, involve the establishment of a multi-ministry task force. He also suggested that it should be determined whether SIRA-style - referring to the Significant Investment Review Act - restrictions or other measures might be necessary for future transactions of this nature.