How you can share your views on Singapore's annual wage recommendations

The National Wages Council (NWC), a tripartite body made up of employer, employee and government representatives, will convene in April and May 2019 to develop its annual guidelines on wage and employment-related issues in Singapore.

NWC considers factors such as Singapore’s economic performance, domestic and global economic outlook, economic competitiveness, labour market conditions, inflation, and productivity growth.

Employers and members of the public can share their views on what could be included in the annual wage recommendations, as well as on other employment-related issues at the following contact points:

National Wages Council c/o Manpower Planning and Policy Division 18 Havelock Road #07-01 Singapore 059764 Fax: 6534 4840 Email: nwc_secretariat@mom.gov.sg

The deadline for sharing ideas is 15 April 2019.

In further news from Ministry of Manpower, the second phase of reductions to the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS) sales charge and wrap fees cap will be deferred by one year from 1 October 2019 to 1 October 2020. This is in response to industry feedback that financial advisors require more time to adjust to the revised CPFIS fees structure.

The background to this is that in March 2018, the Ministry of Manpower announced the removal of the sales charge and a reduction of the wrap fees cap for the CPFIS in two phases.  The first phase of reduction took effect from 1 October 2018.

Meanwhile, financial advisors are allowed to charge a sales charge of up to 1.5% for Investment-Linked Insurance Policies and unit trusts offered under CPFIS. The removal of the sales charge reduces the cost of investing for CPFIS members, especially in cases where members have the time and knowledge to invest who are now able to buy unit trusts directly on online platforms for zero sales charge.

Further, financial advisors today can charge a wrap fee of up to 0.7% of assets under management (AUM) per annum for CPFIS members with wrap accounts. The cap on annual wrap fees will be lowered to 0.4% of AUM per annum, similar to the fees that are charged by online investment platforms in the cash market.

The CPFIS fee cap revisions will be as follows:

Lead image / StockUnlimited Graphic / Ministry of Manpower