21 November 2018

Maybank and CDCs Pledge to Uplift the Lives of Vulnerable Families

21 November 2018

S$1.55 Million Maybank Family Fund @ CDC for three years

On the evening of 21 November 2018, the Office of the Mayors signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Maybank to launch the “Maybank Family Fund @ CDC” (the Fund). In the next three years, Maybank Singapore Limited and Etiqa Insurance commit S$1.55 million to the five Community Development Councils (CDCs) with the objectives of empowering vulnerable families financially and improving their livelihoods and employability.

For the first time, all five CDCs jointly launched this common-based collaboration with Maybank. The guest-of-honour, Mr Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for National Development, witnessed the signing of the MOU between Ms Low Yen Ling, Chairman of Mayors’ Committee and Mayor of South West District, and Dr John Lee, Country CEO and CEO of Maybank Singapore Limited, at Gardens by the Bay Flower Field Hall.

The Fund focuses on uplifting vulnerable families and needy residents through matched savings programmes, funding of life skill workshops and five-year insurance coverage. Since 2010, Maybank and each CDC had collaborated on various financial empowerment and insurance programmes. The newly-launched Fund consolidates all the previous programmes and will build on what had been rolled out. For example, CashUP Family Savers with Central Singapore CDC, Happy Savers with North East CDC, and Star Savers with North West CDC (please refer to Annex A for details). Maybank and CDCs will continue to review programmes that are relevant to community needs.

Under the Fund, all the CDCs are rolling out the “eProtect family @ CDC” for eligible low-income families. This free personal accident insurance scheme provided by Etiqa Insurance insures breadwinners and a maximum of six of their dependents for five years. Each insured person is insured for up to S$50,000 in the event of accidental death or accidental permanent disablement.

To help improve the employability of needy residents, Maybank will join the SkillsFuture Advice @ CDC programme to tap up to 2,500 of its employees to be trained as SkillsFuture Advice ambassadors over the next three years. Maybank is the first private organisation to train employees with the help of CDCs. Maybank’s SkillsFuture Advice ambassadors will be able to share information about SkillsFuture training credits and tips on job development with needy residents at the CDCs.

“Maybank Singapore has been supporting the five CDCs individually since 2010. This MOU will not only uplift the lives of many vulnerable families, a force of close to 2,500 Maybank employees will become SkillsFuture Advice ambassadors to guide our residents in their learning journey. The financial contributions of Maybank Singapore Limited and Etiqa Insurance to the Family Fund help create an inclusive Singapore, especially for those at risk,” said Ms Low Yen Ling, Chairman of Mayors’ Committee and Mayor of South West District.

Dr John Lee, Country CEO and CEO of Maybank Singapore Limited, said, “Maybank is committed to Singapore, and doing good for the community is just as important as excelling in our business endeavours. In line with our mission of ‘Humanising Financial Services’, we are excited to embark on a new three-year partnership with all five CDCs under the People’s Association. We look forward to empowering low-income households to save regularly with matched funding from Maybank, and providing a financial safety net for them through complimentary insurance coverage. We keenly support the SkillsFuture national movement, in fact, the SkillsFuture Advice @ CDC programme complements Maybank’s existing FutureReady Learning Roadmap which includes a module on SkillsFuture for the Digital Workplace.”

Annex A: Partnership with CDCs