Singapore Post creates a financial services division
Singapore’s POSBank (comprising the former Post Office Savings Bank of Singapore and housing loan provider Credit POSB) had long separated from the postal operator Singapore Post (SingPost) and ceased to use the post office network by the time the government sold it to DBS Bank in 1998. By that stage, POSBank had established its own network of branches and ATMs.
At the end of 2003, SingPost, the universal postal service provider whose shares are traded on the Singapore Exchange, decided to expand its range of retail financial services to leverage the estimated 22 million customer visits to its 65 post offices each year.
It established a financial services division to develop, launch and operate its range of retail financial services.
SingPost already had a sales distribution agreement with AXA Insurance covering selected outlets and offered electronic bill presentment and payment services, as well as in-branch bill payments and remittance services.
SingPost said that by 2006 it plans to have introduced, subject to regulatory approval, financial products such as micro remittances, investment and insurance products, secured consumer financial products (including housing and renovation loans), secured personal finance and cashflow management products for small- and medium-sized enterprises. SingPost said it would work with, and act as a distribution agent for, financial institutions, where appropriate.
In December 2004, SingPost launched sales and encashment services for American Express Travellers Cheques, which will be made available at 40 of its post offices.
In January this year, it signed an agreement to establish an exclusive life insurance distribution partnership with Prudential Assurance in Singapore, distributing Prudential’s financial planning services and products at its post offices under the Care for Life brand. Under the terms of the agreement, full-time financial consultants from Prudential would be stationed at ten designated post offices in the first phase, before extending the service to other offices.
The postal operator had also installed 150 self-service automated machines by the end of March 2004, offering a wide range of services, including basic postal services; payment of utility and local government bills and parking fines; insurance premium payment services; and mobile-phone top-ups.
