SINGAPORE – Following Parliament’s approval on May 7, holders of Singtel special discounted shares (SDS) who choose not to sell them will have the shares transferred into their own Central Depository (CDP) accounts in November.
The CPF Amendment Bill, first introduced in Parliament on April 7, ends the CPF Board’s longstanding role as trustee of the SDS scheme, allowing shareholders who bought the Singtel shares in 1993 and 1996 to manage them directly.
Those who do not currently have their individual CDP accounts and decide to hold on to their SDS will have a designated one created for them solely for the purpose of selling the SDS.
About 615,000 Singaporeans who are SDS holders will be affected by this Bill.
Since April 8, holders have been able to withdraw and sell their SDS for cash at Singpost outlets, as well as via Phillip Securities and select Singapore Exchange brokers.
As at April 30, around 83,000 SDS holders, or 13 per cent of all SDS holders, had already withdrawn and sold their shares, with 90 per cent of them opting to receive their proceeds in cash.
The SDS scheme was introduced in the 1990s to encourage CPF members to participate in share ownership at a time when many were unfamiliar with investing.
Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash said the Bill was “good policy housekeeping” that updates the CPF system to ensure it remains effective and relevant.
He added that the SDS scheme is no longer needed as a gateway to share ownership, with holders now able to decide for themselves when to sell their shares.
Singtel would now also have greater flexibility to carry out its corporate actions in a timely manner, without having to involve the CPF Board which could make processes more complex.
Responding to several MPs during the debate, Mr Dinesh said the SDS scheme had achieved its goal of helping CPF members build their assets, adding that the new arrangement gives holders more flexibility while ensuring those without individual CDP accounts are not disadvantaged.
MP for Jalan Besah GRC Shawn Loh noted that the retirement of the Singtel SDS scheme could also spur CPF to remove further existing policies and schemes that have outlived their purpose, for example the CPF Investment Scheme for the Special Account.
“It is a bit like taking care of a 70-year-old tree…We need to keep pruning our policies and remove the unnecessary ones, so that new ones with green shoots will flourish and provide more shade for all the retirees.”
But Worker’s Party MP for Aljunied GRC Fadli Fawzi raised the question on why the list of authorised brokers to facilitate the sale of the SDS was limited, given the wide range of brokerage platforms offering competitive commission rates in Singapore.
He noted that the 0.24 per cent commission fee charged by Phillip Securities and the flat $17.95 fee if sold through SingPost were higher than charges by other brokers. For elderly holders with smaller share lots, the flat fee could make up a sizeable portion of their sale proceeds, and he asked whether the government could consider waiving these charges.
Mr Fawzi also questioned why the CDP accounts created for those who currently do not own one were designated only for the sale of SDS and not standard accounts, which appeared to be more like a “workaround than a fully empowering solution”.
Mr Dinesh said that it is up to the SGX brokers to decide if they want to facilitate the sale of the SDS as it also includes cost. He added that 95 per cent of transactions handled at Singpost outlets are also completed online, which does not incur the flat fee.
MPs also proposed strengthening outreach to SDS holders who may require greater assistance. They also raised concerns about the likelihood of scams arising from the share transfer exercise, given that a significant number of SDS holders are seniors.
Mr Dinesh said the CPF Board would ensure that SDS holders would not be neglected, and already staffing has been beefed up at CPF centres in anticipation of increased walk-in queries.
He noted that the physical touch-points at CPF centres and Singpost outlets, as well as the dedicated 1713 hotline, have resolved queries from SDS holders promptly and efficiently.
He added that there have been no complaints about SDS holders being scammed thus far, in part due to the safeguards in place, and CPF will continue to monitor the security of the exercise.
In a May 7 statement released after the parliamentary debate, Singtel said that there were around 60,000 walk-in enquiries by SDS holders at the 36 SingPost branches across the country in the past month.
The SDS hotline run by Singtel also received some 6,800 calls as at end-April, with 300 calls daily on average.
In the next phase of the exercise, it plans to reach out to over 20,000 older and less digitally savvy SDS holders who may require greater assistance, with the Agency for Integrated Care already conducting house visits this week as part of these outreach efforts.
The telco added that the selling of its SDS has slowed considerably over the month of April, with daily volumes averaging some 4.5 million shares this week – about 11 per cent of its average daily trading volume.
