Building and sustaining trust in Singapore’s CPF system

In a joint commentary, SMU Associate Dean of Postgraduate Programmes and Professor of Finance (Education) Benedict Koh and Joelle H Fong, Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS discussed the findings of a new study which revealed a clear link between trust and pension behaviours of older Singaporeans. The new study found that older Singaporeans who trust Central Provident Fund (CPF) representatives have larger CPF balances, and are also more likely to invest through the CPF Investment Scheme programme, compared to Singaporeans who do not. The large-scale survey, conducted in 2018-2019 at SMU, utilises a representative sample comprised close to 6,000 older Singaporeans aged 50 and above.