You would now be aware that Singapore Airlines has set the wheels in motion to close its defined benefit superannuation fund, and transfer all members of the fund to the Aon accumulation fund on 31 October 2015.
Many ASU members have contacted us with questions about how this will impact on them. On Friday 28 August your ASU representatives met with representatives of Singapore Airlines and Aon (the superannuation trustee) to get some more information about the changes.
We found out that Singapore Airlines:
- Started this process back in 2014, and a management committee made the final decision in around April this year. Despite this, affected employees were only informed on 30 July!
- Will keep 50% of the surplus of the defined benefit fund, meaning it expects to pocket around $1 million out of this arrangement
- Has said it will continue to pay your superannuation insurance premiums, but has not made a legally binding commitment to do this – that means that it could stop paying the premiums as soon as the transfer is finalised!
Questions remain
The ASU raised further questions with Singapore Airlines which are waiting for responses to:
- What happens if an employee does not want to transfer to the Aon accumulation fund and wants to transfer to a different fund?
- Will Singapore Airlines give a legally binding commitment to continue to pay insurance premiums of fund members?
- What is the formula that was used to determine the amount of surplus that will be paid to each employee?
- Has the value of the surplus reduced since the initial estimates were done in April 2015 given recent stock market volatility?
- Will Singapore Airlines pay a greater proportion of the surplus to the employees, rather than keeping $1 million for itself?
Singapore Airlines said that it would get back to us with answers to our questions this week. We will let members know once we receive further information.