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BOARD OF DIRECTOR’S ANNUAL REPORT 2009 |
| Annual Report>>Annual Report 2009 |
1 Brief Report of Board of Directors An open account of our performance and priorities 1.1 Growing profit and growing business enables the cooperative to deliver value to its members in a number of ways e.g. dividends, scholarships, incentive travels, hospitalization payments etc. Despite the economic uncertainty, new regulatory measures, restricted investments and low loan applications, your Board of Directors delivered a profitable balance sheet with a 3% growth overall. A detailed account of the cooperative’s financial performance are presented in the Annual Report 2009. 1.2 For the long term success of the cooperative, your Board Of Directors with members mandate will be establishing a separate business entity to provide customs consultancy and training services, wholly owned by our cooperative. This is similar to the SPF model owned by the Police Co-operative providing enforcement related training to both local and external participants. 1.3 Your Board of Directors will continue to explore new investment opportunities to optimize profits and improve the socio-economic benefits of its members. 1.4 We also will provide opportunities for growth and development of staff through effective recruitment, training and career planning so as to develop their full potential. 2 BOARD MEETING 2.1 The Board of Directors held 12 meetings during the period under review to transact the business of the society. 3 MEMBERSHIP 3.1 As at 31December 2009 the membership strength was 840. 4 SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS Annual scholarship awards are presented to member’s children for their academic studies ranging from primary to university level. During the year our Society gave away $4,800.00 worth of awards to deserving members' children. 5 LOANS 5.1 Granting of loans is the core business of the society and we will endeavour to explore new and innovative financial products to meet members’ needs and compliance with new regulatory measures. 5.2 Emergency Loan 5.2.1 The easy/emergency loan up to $2,000.00 was introduced and had benefited members and attracted more applications in need of short term loan. The guidelines for loans exceeding $2,000 to $30,000 was revised to keep in tandem with the new changes governing co-operative introduced by Registrar of Co-operative Societies. 6 DIVIDEND/INTEREST 6.1 The Society is pleased to recommend that a dividend of 3 % be paid on members' Thrift Savings & Share Capital for 2009. 6.2 The interest rate on Specific Deposit for the year 2009 is 1%. 7 STATUTORY RESERVE FUND 7.1 The fund now stands at $369,488.00 8 COMMON GOOD FUND 8.1 A total sum of $50,749.00 was granted under the Common Good Fund for medical, death and retirement benefits. 9 APPROPRIATION OF PROFITS - 2009 9.1 The proposed Appropriation of Profits is shown in Appendix ‘A’. 10 ACCOUNTS OF THE SOCIETY 10.1 The Society engaged M/s Wu Chiaw Chng & Co to maintain its computerised accounting system for the year 2009. 11 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS 11.1 Members of the Society were furnished with their respective statement of accounts after the close of the financial year. 12 NTUC GROUP TERM INSURANCE SCHEME 12.1 The number of members’ participating in the scheme are reducing due to the increased premium rates introduced by NTUC INCOME in 2007. Currently, there are 90 members participating in the scheme 13 AFFILIATION/INVESTMENT 13.1 SINGAPORE NATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE FEDERATION (SNCF) 13.1.1 Our co-operative is affiliated to SNCF which is as an apex body of all Co-operative Societies in Singapore . SNCF co-ordinates and facilitates the activities of the co-operatives in Singapore . It does so by organizing and supervising courses, study missions and seminars on important topics such as co-operative management, financial analysis, investment management and decision making for its members. 14 SINGAPORE ASSOCIATION OF AMALGAMATED CO-OP SOCIETIES LTD. (SASCO) 14.1 SASCO continues to play an important role in caring for the less fortunate members of the society through various Community Projects such as managing a Home for Senior Citizens and a day care centre for the elderly destitutes. It also operates two Child Care Centres that cater mainly to lower and middle-income families. 14.2 Our Society is an affiliate of SASCO and our Chairman Mr. S Krishnan is our representative to SASCO. He is the current Secretary of SASCO. 15 NTUC FAIRPRICE 15.1 The society is an institutional member of NTUC Fairprice with $68,500 shares. 16 NTUC INCOME 16.1 Our investment with NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative amounted to 30,000 shares. 17 PREMIER SECURITY CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY 17.1 The society is an institutional member of Premier Security Co-operative with $50,000 shares. Our Chairman, Mr. S Krishnan is our representative to Premier Security. 18 SINGAPORE CREDIT CO-OP LEAGUE (SCOPE) 18.1 Our Society is an institutional member of SCOPE with an investment of $90,000. The objective of SCOPE is to maintain a central funding scheme for the affiliates to deposit their surplus funds for investment to get better returns. 18.2 Mr Farihullah s/o A W Safihullah is our representative to SCOPE. 19 OTHER MATTERS 19.1 EXTERNAL CONFERENCES AND STUDY MISSIONS19.1.1 Our co-operative society actively supported and participated in various overseas conferences and study missions arranged by SNCF. These activities not only helped to bring fellow co-operators together for interaction and networking but also provide them with invaluable learning opportunities in developing seamless co-operation from both regional and international movements. Participation in these activities has significantly enhanced the profile and image of our co-operative. 20 CREDIT CO-OP MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING SYSTEM 20.1 The society will soon be launching the Internet-based Accounting System as part of our on-going efforts to serve members more effectively and efficiently. We have engaged Streamline Solutions to upgrade our membership and accounting system. 20.2 The system will also update members on the latest initiatives implemented in the organization and would have direct access to all the products provided by the society. 21 ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN CO-OPERATIVE ACTIVITIES 21.1 Our co-operative society had given continued reciprocal support to activities organised by other co-operative societies and such participation enhances our image and networking with fellow cooperators. 22 OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST 22.1 YEARLY TRAVEL INCENTIVE FOR MEMBERS22.1.1 Since 2002, 240 members had travelled to various destinations including Malaysia , Bangkok , and Bali etc. The society's members who participated in the tour were generally happy and contented with the tour arrangements. 22.1.2 The Board of Directors is currently looking into giving priority for retiring officers in the selection of participants for future incentive tours. 22.2 AMENDMENTS TO CO-OPERATIVE ACT CAP 62 22.2.1 The new co-operative act came into effect 20th Oct 08. Our co-operative had amended our by-laws [February 2010] in accordance with the changes in the Act and will apply for re-registration after this AGM. It is anticipated that more changes and rules will emanate from the RCS on the capping of loans, security for loans and other regulatory requirements and on the Deposit Guarantee Scheme valid in 31 Dec 2010 22.3 SETTING OF INDEPENDENT AUDIT COMMITTEE 22.3.1 Since 2006 your society had set up an Audit Committee comprising of 3 Board Members or more who should be suitably equipped with knowledge of Co-operative management, finance and corporate governance matters. They meet 3 times a year. 22.3.2 They had reviewed, in some arrears, co-operative systems of internal controls, including financial, operational and compliance controls and risk management, co-operative financial operating results, accounting policies and significant accounting estimates and judgments, and the appointment, cost effectiveness and independence of the external and internal auditors of the Company and make recommendations of the appointment of the external and internal auditors to the Board 22.4 SETTING OF INDEPENDENT INTERNAL AUDITOR 22.4.1 To enhance our fiscal controls, we will engage an independent audit firm to conduct regular checks on the cash, investments, members' savings, loans and other assets of the Society and be accountable to the Audit Committee appointed by the Board of Directors. 22.5 WORKPLAN SEMINAR 22.5.1 Since 2007, the Society had been holding Workplan Seminars. Arising from these workplans, some key problems were identified., such as, reviewing our vision, mission and core values of the co-operative, proper checks and balances on internal controls, forming sub-committees to tackle the various issues, how to manage investments and manage risk, set up enterprises providing consultancy services, membership, liquidity ratio requirement, new regulatory measures, bye-laws and meeting prudential requirements and re-branding exercise. 22.6 LOAN SCHEMES
22.7 CAPPING OF THRIFT & SAVINGS 22.7.1 Since January 2005, the Board of Directors had decided to cap all contribution of thrift and general savings to $200 per month for new members and those who had been contributing less than $200. 22.7.2 The By-law on membership has been reviewed to include retirees as associate members and includes members who resigns from government service and wishes to remain as a coop member. 22.8 RETIREMENT GRANT 22.8.1 In 2008, the Society had revised its retirement grant to pay $500 to retiring members from customs service with 20 years and above membership with the society. These are granted to members with valid retirement letters from government service, regardless of their continuity of status as associate members. 22.9 DEATH GRANT Member or employee $1,500.00 Spouse of member or employee $300.00 A parent of a member or employee $200.00 A child of a member or employee $150.00 22.10 HOSPITALISATION FUND 22.10. A member or employee shall be eligible for this grant of $20.00 per day subject to a maximum of 45 days in a calendar year if he was admitted to a recognised hospital in Singapore for more than 24 hours. For maternity cases, only 3 claims per member will be approved OTHER MATTERS 23 RETIREMENT 23.1 The Society wishes the following members, who retired from government service, many years of happy retirement:
24 OBITUARY 24.1 The Society records with deep sorrow the demise of the following members:
25 PREMISES 25.1 The Society continued its operation from its own property at 4th level, Parklane Shopping Mall, Selegie Road, Singapore 188307, Tel: 63384890 and Fax No: 63384870. The office is opened for business from Mondays to Fridays daily from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm except Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays. 26 STAFF 26.1 Mr John Santhou & Madam Zaiton continued to work for the Society as its full time manager and clerk. 27 APPRECIATION 27.1 The Committee of Management wish to record its sincere appreciation to: a. The Registrar of Co-operative Societies and his staff for their valuable advice and assistance. b. M/s Wu Chiaw Chng & Co for their advice and audit. c. Members for their co-operation and support in upholding the prestige of the Society. For and on behalf of the P.NAMASIVAYAM HON SECRETARY |
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