Manulife will be selling 17 “Elite” funds of which five are managed by it’s own asset management arm Manulife Asset Management, and 12 from other financial institutions like Aberdeen Asset Management. They aim to grow the pool to 40 funds in the next 12 months. The funds will be sold as “pure” unit trusts as opposed to investment-linked funds. Is it a Big Deal? Read it all..

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From 2 Sep, Citigold clients can opt for a wrap-fee based service, which reduces the front-end transactional cost to better align client/adviser interests. This is offered to those with $1 million to US$10m of investments under management. Instead of the front-end sales charges or commissions, they will be billed annual fees on the portfolio under management (including structured notes, bonds and unit trusts).  A significant change of trend perhaps? Read it all..

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A new consumer watchdog (officially formed in Apr 09) FiSCA or Financial Services Consumer Association , aims to be the champion of consumers of financial products and services, declaring itself to be independent unlike the incumbent and recognized route for financial services related disputes like FiDREC. What’s this all about? Read it all..

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Mission before Commission. Or have insurance practitioners forgotten about that?

MAS called for a review of the commission structure for life insurance advisers, stating concerns that the prevailing front-loading structure may not serve the best interest of consumers. Read it all..

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If the insurance business is saturated, shouldn’t Singaporeans be adequately insured by now?

For many people who join the insurance and financial planning business, they are frequently told by their relatives and friends that this industry is saturated, they know of at least 2 or three insurance agents or financial planners, assuming that everyone else is similarly crowded with such people.

The simple truth is that although there are many who join the business, there are more thaty fall out of the business. Since 2006, there is only a 1.2% increase (from 12,841 in 2006) in insurance agents. This is not in line with our population growth and wage increase numbers.

Another interesting fact is, according to national statistics, the average coverage of working adults is only $165,628 marginally up from $118,000 in Dec 07. A study done by Prof David Yee (NTU) commissioned by the Life Insurance Association, shows an average working Singaporean adult will need $495,000 protection against death. This points to gross under-insurance and a huge market for life insurance.

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In the previous article, we looked at the observations of a 38% increase in premiums collected compared to the 1st quarter of 2009.  There are actually two other areas which bears taking a look at in the LIA Insurance Industry Report 1H 2009. Read it all..

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According to Life Insurance Association (LIA), the Singapore life insurance industry recorded 38% increase in new business in Q1 2009. Does this signal improved sentiments about the investing climate or a growing job security of consumers to commit to longer term savings? Read it all..

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On 7th July, 10 Singapore Financial Instituions DBS, OCBC Securities, CIMB-GK Securities and Philip Securities were banned from selling structured products for a period between 6 months to a year. This is a direct result of the failed Lehman Brother’s Mini-Bond saga. This is considered just a slap on the wrist , as Hong Kong FIs were made to pay out at least 60% of the principal, amounting to HK$6.3 billion as compensation to various investors.

The shortcomings identified were made for shocking reading: risk profile questionnaires that were wrongly scored; risk profile scoring systems that did not allocate numerical scores; wrong classifications of products, and relationship managers (RMs) and representatives who refused to attend the pre-requisite training. Read it all..

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