As early as 1925, the Singapore Government Servants’ Co-operative Thrift and Loan Society first co-operative registered in Singapore, with 32 members. It still exists today under a slightly different name – Singapore Government Staff Credit Co-Operative Society.
At the time, moneylending was a thriving business in Singapore, especially because the banking industry was not as mature as it is in Singapore today. With many seeing the value of co-operatives, it led to as many as 43 co-operatives forming by 1940.
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The growing number of co-operatives led to the formation of a central organisation to lead its development and sustainability in Singapore. Today, after several re-branding exercises through the years, the Singapore National Co-operative Federation (SNCF) acts as “the apex body of Singapore’s Co-operative movement, and secretariat of the Central Co-operative Fund (CCF). The role of providing a regulatory framework and governance belongs to the Ministry of Culture Community and Youth (MCCY), under the Co-operative Societies Act (Chapter 62) and Co-operative Societies Rules 2009.
Despite the maturity of the banking industry in Singapore today, co-operatives still have an important role to play. This is evidenced by close to 85 co-operatives currently in operation, with close to 1.5 million members holding $18.3 billion in total assets (as of 31 March 2019).
What Is A Co-Operative?
Co-operative societies, commonly referred to as co-ops, are enterprises that are owned and run by members, for members. Co-operatives also operate on the principles of self-help and mutual assistance and typically also have social missions to benefit the greater society. While it is not-for-profit, co-operatives should not be confused as charities or government-linked entities.
Today, there are close to 85 co-operative societies in Singapore. There are two main types of co-operatives – credit co-operatives and consumer and services co-operatives. The consumer and services co-operatives can typically be broken down into three further types – Campus Co-operatives, Service Co-operatives, and NTUC-linked Co-operatives.
Source: SNCF
Examples Of Co-operatives In Singapore
There are 23 credit co-operatives, mainly providing financial services, such as receiving deposits and disbursing loans, usually at better-than-market interest rates, to members. Its members are usually within a pre-existing common bond of association or community interest, such as an employer, profession or race.
Certain credit co-operatives also provides dividends based on the co-operative’s earnings, membership perks such as baby bonus, hospitalisation grants, marriage grants and funeral grant, as well as education scholarships and bursaries.
Some of these include TCC Co-operative, Singapore Statutory Boards Employees’ Co-operative Thrift and Loan Society (SSBEC), Singapore Bank Employees Thrift and Loan Co-operative, Singapore Malay Teachers’ Co-operative, and more. They have 133,000 members.
Read Also: Why Credit Co-operatives in Singapore Can Be the First (And Not Last) Place You Turn To
There are 62 consumer and services co-operatives, which mainly provide goods and/or services to their members and the public. The majority of members come from this segment, with over 1.3 million members.
They protect the economic interest of their members by providing employment opportunities, selling goods or supplying tailored services. They usually have social missions to help residents in Singapore through moderating the cost of living or providing targeted services.
As mentioned, there are three sub-segments of co-operatives within the consumer and services co-operatives segment.
Campus co-operatives operate in campuses of schools, colleges, polytechnics and universities, and include ASC(I) Multi-purpose Co-operative and Ngee-Ann Polytechnic Consumer Co-operative.
Service co-operatives provide a wide range of services such as environmental, security, travel, aged care, management corporation and welfare, and include Silver Caregivers Co-operative, RunningHour Co-operative and PermierSecurity Co-operative.
NTUC-linked co-operatives are formed by the Labour Movement with the primary purpose of serving workers and their families, and includes household names such as NTUC Fairprice, NTUC First Campus, NTUC Foodfare and NTUC Income.
If you want to set up a co-operative, you need to fulfil these considerations.
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Contributing To The Central Co-Operative Fund (CCF) And The Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF)
The Co-operative Societies Act requires co-operatives to contribute 5% of their first $500,000 in annual operating surplus to the Central Co-operative Fund (CCF), and 20% of any operating surplus in excess of $500,000 to either the Central Co-operative Fund or the Singapore Labour Foundation (SLF).
Source: MCCY
Contributions to the Central Co-operative Fund are used to further the co-operative industry, in terms of education, training, research, auditing, and the general development of the co-operative movement in Singapore.
Contributions to the Singapore Labour Foundation are used to support initiatives that are in line with its mission of furthering the development of a labour movement of unions and co-operatives, and to promote welfare of union members and their families.
In 2019, co-operatives contributed $3.2 million to the Central Co-operative Fund and $139.3 million to the Singapore Labour Foundation.
List Of Co-Operatives In Singapore
This is an annex all the existing credit co-operatives and consumer and services co-operatives.
| Consumer And Services Co-Operatives | ||
| #1 A Good Space Co-Operative | #2 ACS (Independent) Multi-purpose Co-operative | #3 Amanath Multi-purpose Co-operative |
| #4 AUPE General Services Co-operative | #5 Bedok Multi-purpose Co-operative | #6 Beauty Services Alliance Co-operative |
| #7 Ceylon Tamils’ Multi-purpose Co-operative | #8 Choice Décor Co-operative | #9 Community Kitchen Co-operative |
| #10 Co-operative of SCDF Employees (COSEM) | #11 Co-operative of Nanyang Technological University | #12 Educare Co-operative |
| #13 Employment for Persons with Intellectual Disability Co-operative | #14 Entrepreneurs’ Co-operative | #15 GP+ Co-operative (GPLUS) |
| #16 Helmet and The Penguin Cooperative (HATP) | #17 Industrial and Services Co-operative (ICOS) | #18 Isoria Cooperative Singapore |
| #19 Japanese Residents’ Multi-purpose Co-operative | #20 Kaizen Co-operative | #21 Keppel FELS Multi-purpose Co-operative |
| #22 Kyosei Travel Co-operative | #23 Love Empowered Co-operative | #24 Malay Settlement Co-operative |
| #25 Mercatus Co-operative | #26 Mercatus Alpha Co-operative | #27 Mercatus Beta Co-operative |
| #28 Mercatus Delta Co-operative | #29 Mercatus Epsilon Co-operative | #30 Mercatus Gamma Co-operative |
| #31 Mercatus Zeta Co-operative | #32 Methodist Co-operative (MCSL) | #33 Ngee Ann Polytechnic Consumer Co-operative |
| #34 NTUC Choice Homes Co-operative | #35 NTUC Enterprise Co-operative | #36 NTUC Enterprise Nexus Co-operative |
| #37 NTUC Fairprice Co-operative | #38 NTUC First Campus Co-operative (NFC) | #39 NTUC Foodfare Co-operative |
| #40 NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative | #41 NTUC LearningHub Co-operative | #42 NTUC Health Co-operative |
| #43 NUS Multi-purpose Co-operative | #44 Phoenix Co-operative | #45 Premier Security Co-operative |
| #46 Reverse Co-operative | #47 RunningHour Co-operative | #48 Seacare Co-operative |
| #49 SecureGuard Security Services | #50 Sembawang Co-operative Thrift & Loan | #51 Sembcorp Marine Multi-purpose Co-operative |
| #52 Silver Caregivers Co-operative | #53 Silver Horizon Travel Co-operative | #54 Singapore Amalgamated Service Co-operative Organisation |
| #55 Singapore National Co-operative Federation(SNCF) | #56 Singapore Professionals’ & Executives’ Co-operatives (SPEC) | #57 Singapore Religious Teachers’ Multi-purpose Co-operative |
| #58 Temasek Polytechnic Co-operative | #59 The Good Life Co-operative | #60 TopFlight Sports Co-operative |
| #61 UTES Multi-purpose Co-operative | #62 Wavelink Co-operative | |
