Financial Focus

The Central Depository (CDP) has lowered the minimum age for trading of shares in Singapore from 21 to 18. This change follows a recent amendment involving contractual age, which saw the age at most contracts are binding and enforceable against a minor being lowered to 18.

Hence for all new third party policy applications where parent takes a life policy insuring his child, the child has to be below the age of 18 years old. This change takes immediate effect.

The impact?

Well, policyholders who had planned on taking up participating policies (ie. accumulates cash value) through their children older than 18 years because of their own substandard health conditions, will have to rethink again.

And of course, if by local standards, 18-year olds are mature enough to trade shares, then they should also be able to resist spending the coupons due from anticipating endowment policies should their hardworking parents decide to plough some savings into.