Lim Boon Heng expected to retire as NTUC chairman

30/10/2025 2 Views

SINGAPORE – Former Cabinet minister Lim Boon Heng is expected to retire from his role as chairman of NTUC Enterprise Co-operative, the parent of Income Insurance, Bloomberg reported on Oct 30, citing people familiar with the matter.

Mr Lim’s retirement will be announced internally as soon as this week, Bloomberg’s report said.

It will come after the 77-year-old on Oct 9 stepped down as chairman of Singapore’s investment company Temasek, a role he had held since August 2013. He was succeeded by former senior minister Teo Chee Hean.

Mr Lim has helmed NTUC Enterprise, which is the holding company for Income as well as a range of businesses from childcare to supermarkets, since 2012.

NTUC Enterprise was most recently in the news when

Allianz proposed to buy a majority stake in the local insurer

, in a deal valued at $2.2 billion. But the deal fell through five months after the German insurer revealed its plans for the controlling stake.

The Government called off the proposed union on concerns over the deal structure and Income’s ability to continue its social mission.

On Oct 16, 2024, the

Singapore Parliament passed a Bill to amend the Insurance Act

so that the Monetary Authority of Singapore would have to consider the views of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth when an application for regulatory approval involves an insurer that is either a cooperative or linked to one.

Income’s board and NTUC Enterprise acknowledged the withdrawal of Allianz’s offer following the amendment of the Insurance Act.

A key reason the deal was rejected by the Government was Allianz’s planned capital reduction exercise, which would return $1.85 billion to shareholders within the first three years after the deal was completed – a sticking point that surfaced only later.

The money was part of the surplus that would have gone to the Co-operative Societies Liquidation Account to benefit Singapore’s co-op movement, had the Government not given Income an exemption allowing it to carry over a surplus of $2 billion in capital when the insurer was corporatised in 2022.

Mr Lim has had a long association with the National Trades Union Congress. He rose from the position of deputy director (1981 to 1983) to assistant secretary-general (1983 to 1987) and deputy secretary-general (1987 to 1991) before leaving to take up his appointment in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

In October 1993, Lim was appointed Minister without Portfolio and secretary-general of NTUC, succeeding Mr Ong Teng Cheong at the labour movement. He served four terms as secretary-general, stepping down in 2006 when he was succeeded by Mr Lim Swee Say.

He retired from politics in 2011 but retained his post as deputy chairman of the Singapore Labour Foundation and became chairman of NTUC Enterprise in 2012.

Many questions remain unanswered from the Income-Allianz saga, with some observers criticising the lack of transparency and accountability had the Government not stepped in.

Observers noted that Income’s stakeholders, including the Government, policyholders and shareholders, were not given the full picture by Income and NTUC Enterprise.

The entire episode was discussed heatedly in Parliament, with backbenchers demanding to know whether the NTUC leadership was aware of the proposed initiative to reduce Income’s share capital.

NTUC deputy secretary-general Desmond Tan told Parliament on Oct 16 that the labour movement’s central committee did not know of the insurers’ plan before it was made known in Parliament on Oct 14.

Mr Tan said NTUC is a major shareholder of NTUC Enterprise and does not get involved in day-to-day operations, with business decisions delegated to the board of NTUC Enterprise.

NTUC Enterprise reported revenue of $8.2 billion in 2024.

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