[SINGAPORE] Income Insurance chairman Ronald Ong,69, will retire from his role after seven years at the helm, the company announced on Monday (Jun 9).
The board has begun a succession process to appoint a new chairman and further details will be shared at the upcoming annual general meeting on Jun 24, the company said in a statement.
Lim Boon Heng, chairman of Income’s parent NTUC Enterprise, expressed his appreciation for Ong’s leadership over the past seven years at Income.
“Ronald remains on the NTUC Enterprise board and will be steering the private investment portfolio within NTUC Enterprise going forward, leveraging his deep expertise, wide network, and strong commitment to create value for customers and shareholders,” Lim added.
Ong has been serving on the board since 2018 and was appointed chairman in 2019. He led the corporatisation of NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative to Income Insurance in 2022.
He had also led Income Insurance through the Covid-19 pandemic and has helped to enhance its digital capabilities.
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It was previously reported that Ong had recused himself when Morgan Stanley was appointed as the financial adviser for the proposed sale of Income to German insurer Allianz. At the time of his appointment as Income chairman, Ong had been working at Morgan Stanley for 20 years. In February 2023, he was appointed chairman of the bank’s South-east Asia business.
The 1.5 billion euro (S$2.2 billion) sale, announced a year ago, was cancelled months later in October 2024 when the government amended the Insurance Act to facilitate cancelling of the deal. In calling off the sale, it said it was “not in the public interest” for the transaction to proceed in its current form.
Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong added that the government was still open to any new arrangement which Income may wish to pursue, whether with Allianz or other partners, as long as the concerns were fully addressed.
The decision came after much public disquiet over the deal, which also became a major talking point during the 2025 General Election campaigning.
NTUC secretary-general Ng Chee Meng, who stood as a candidate for Jalan Kayu SMC, said the deal was done in “good faith” and complied with legal regulations.
“In NTUC, we will do our best, and sometimes I’m sorry that it’s not good enough. But we will learn the right lessons and we will do better,” he said. Ng won the Jalan Kayu seat by a slim 51.47 per cent of the vote.
