All these are efforts to help the board achieve its new mission and vision, said newly appointed general manager Willie Tan.
'The Economic Review Committee (ERC) has reaffirmed that fundamentally CPF is responsible for retirement, home ownership and healthcare,' said Mr Tan, who was appointed general manager on Sept 1.
'With that as the backdrop, we took a look at our mission and vision in the last few months and we sort of refined it.' The board's vision is to be a world-class social security organisation providing the best national savings scheme for Singaporeans to enjoy a financially secure retirement.
The first step towards achieving its new mission and vision is to continually benchmark itself against the best in the world. Mr Tan noted that Singapore's CPF system is considered by many to be a model. Last year, it received 200 international visits from 50 countries.
But in specific areas, it can still learn from the best. One example is privately managed pension funds, which the ERC has recommended.
For this, the board is now studying the systems in the US and Hong Kong.
Such funds will lower the investment costs for CPF members through pooling, and will give them an alternative means of investing and earning a decent return over the long term.
'We are working out the implementation plan . . . How do we bring this about, what regulatory mechanism do we have to put in place, and what is CPF Board's role in it,' Mr Tan said.
Educating members is another important role for the board. Mr Tan believes CPF can play a value-added role in educating and providing information to its members.
Today, the board's approach is to provide good counter service. It processes members' requests in an efficient, hassle-free and pleasant manner.
Come next year, its customer service officers will proactively provide members with all the information they may need pertaining to certain major life events.
'For example, you come to us and say you want to buy a house,' Mr Tan said. 'We will look at your needs, tell you the amount of money you have and the valuation limit you are subject to. Then we may talk to you about mortgage reducing insurance, basically all the related issues which we think the person should know before he or she makes a commitment to a property.'
But the final decision lies with the member.
CPF calls this Services by Life Events or SBLEs.
Important points in a person's lifeline include when he starts work, gets married, buys a house and when he reaches 55 and can withdraw his CPF money.
When more professional advice is needed, CPF will direct them to the professionals, he added.
Mr Tan said CPF staff have been undergoing training to equip themselves for the expanded role.
Thirdly, CPF wants to play a leading role in the e-government initiative.
CPF processes 1.1 million transactions a month. Only 27 per cent of them are done electronically. Of the over 80,000 employers, only 14 per cent use electronic means to submit CPF contributions.
There is plenty of scope for CPF to do better in e-services. Mr Tan said the board is putting a lot of effort into this by providing more user-friendly websites, having e-lobbies at its branches, and basically making e-service available through as many channels as possible.
As part of this effort, CPF has embarked on a $49 million revamp of its information technology (IT) system.
The objective is to make its system more responsive and more adaptable to any changes in policies.
CPF is also taking the opportunity to shorten its processes and remove any requirements for hard copy submissions where possible.
With a more up-to-date IT system, Mr Tan is looking forward to the day when CPF has all the indicators at just a touch of a button - indicators to tell whether Singaporeans are saving enough for retirement, whether the funds in Medisave are adequate, and where the trend is heading.
'Then we will be more prepared to recommend refinements to our systems when the need arises,' he said.
Quelle: The Business Times
