POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK OF SINGAPORE BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

6.09 p.m.

The Minister for Communications (Mr Yong Nyuk Lin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Members will recall that in September last year I announced that Government had decided to convert the Post Office Savings Bank into a statutory corporation to give the Bank greater freedom of action and to provide more efficient service to its half-million depositors. This Bill seeks to convert the Bank into a statutory corporation.

The advantages of being an independent statutory board are obvious. Management will have greater flexibility in administration, recruitment of staff, business operations and promotional programmes. With financial autonomy the Bank will be able to demonstrate its effectiveness. Calculations show that the Bank can be self-supporting and viable as a statutory corporation.

I will now summarise the principal provisions of the Bill. The main objects of the Bank are to provide means for the deposit of savings and to mobilise domestic savings for public development. The Bank is empowered to operate time deposit accounts and to lend money to its depositors, vide clauses 5 (a) and (b) of the Bill. These are new facilities and will no doubt be welcomed by the depositors.

The management of the Bank will be vested in a Board of Directors consisting of between five and eight members, all of whom, including its Chairman, shall be appointed by the Minister. There is also provision under clause 17 for the appointment of a General Manager who shall be the chief executive of the Bank.

An important point is that Government will continue to guarantee the repayment of deposits and interest. This is provided for in clause 26. The public is therefore assured of complete security for their deposits.

There is provision for the creation of a general reserve fund from the Bank's surplus revenues. The Bank may also invest in such stocks and securities as the Minister for Finance may, from time to time, approve.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to conclude with a brief review of the past and future prospects of the Bank. When we took over control of the Bank from Kuala Lumpur in 1966, five years ago, there were only 250,000 depositors and $37 million in deposits. As at 30th September this year, there were 548,492 depositors and the amount of deposits was $85.83 million. Credit for this excellent achievement must go to the Advisory Committee appointed in 1968, to the staff, and to the strong support from the public, including our school children. I must add that the interest of 4 per cent will continue to be exempt from income tax! I am confident that, as an autonomous statutory corporation, the Post Office Savings Bank will become an even greater financial institution than it is today, and I have no doubt that the public will continue to give their fullest support to the Bank.

Question proposed.

6.13 p.m.

Mr Teong Eng Siong: (In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, I welcome the amendment Bill. The Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore has played a great part in mobilising domestic savings among the public, particularly in promoting the saving habit among the school children in Singapore. As a result of the various incentives offered by the Post Office Savings Bank, considerable interest among our students has been stimulated. The number of students participating in the Savings Bank programme has increased over the years. Cultivating the saving habit among our children and young citizens is a great step forward. In this connection, I would like to mention a case in point. Last year a competition for the highest number of new depositors with the Post Office Savings Bank was held among our school children. The Mm Chung School (Naval Base Public Chinese School), which is a primary school in my constituency, has a small school enrolment but it won the competition. This is, of course, a credit to Sembawang constituency.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister has stated just now that the aim of this Bill is to make the Post Office Savings Bank financially viable and autonomous and this move to convert it into a statutory body will make it more effective and efficient. It is also my hope that after its conversion into a corporation, the Post Office Savings Bank will be capable of better performance, particularly in promoting domestic savings.

Over the past few years, the Post Office Savings Bank has been giving encouragement to depositors by way of allowing those with $500 or more in the savings bank to take part in lucky draws. Mr Speaker, Sir, in principle this is a good way to encourage saving among members of the public so that they will put more money into the Post Office Savings Bank. However, in respect of the detailed workings of the lucky draw, I feel that there is room for improvement. This lucky draw has been so organised that a depositor must personally collect the coupon from the Post Office Savings Bank. In my view, this will cause considerable inconvenience to the depositors, particularly those who are absent-minded or who are too busy to go and collect the coupon. I would, therefore, like to suggest to the Minister to organise a better system for the lucky draw, if at all a lucky draw is to be held next year. That is to say, let those with $500 or more in the savings bank be given a coupon automatically to take part in the lucky draw instead of their having to collect it personally. In this way, all those who are eligible will be able to participate in the lucky draw. By having coupons sent to them by post, they will thus have the opportunity to take part in a lucky draw. If Members of Parliament do take part in this lucky draw, they will have an opportunity to win a prize!

6.18 p.m.

Mr Yong Nyuk Lin: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am glad that the Member for Sembawang has spoken in full support of the decision to convert the Post Office Savings Bank into a statutory corporation. He has suggested that if there are going to be lucky draws in the future, then the depositors need not personally present themselves at the post office to get the lottery tickets. I must assume that the Member has not as yet participated in the lucky draw, because if he had, he would have known the reason why a depositor has to make a personal application. It is because the staff will have to see that the particular person does have at least $500 in the Post Office Savings Bank. When issuing the lottery ticket, the staff will stamp on the pass book itself that such and such a lucky draw ticket has been given to the depositor. That is the reason why it is necessary for a depositor to call personally and present his passbook. Therefore, it will not be possible really to send a lucky draw ticket by post and for the depositor to receive it at the other end without his having to turn up at the post office himself. I can assure him that there will be lucky draws for 1972 and we do hope that the Member for Sembawang will be one of the depositors who will qualify for the lucky draw tickets and thus win a prize!

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill.-[Mr Yong Nyuk Lin].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.