AXA Singapore - Up For Sale

HSBC Holdings Plc and Malayan Banking Bhd’s insurance venture, Etiqa, are among shortlisted bidders for Axa SA’s business in Singapore, which could raise about US$700 million in a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.

The British bank and Etiqa, majority owned by a Maybank joint venture, have proceeded into the next round with a few weeks to go before a deadline for submitting binding bids. At least one Chinese firm also among those invited to lodge offers.

Axa has been considering a sale of its Singapore business as it seeks to raise funds divesting peripheral operations. Chief Executive Officer Thomas Buberl is trying to shift Axa’s focus on property and casualty insurance following its $15.3 billion purchase of XL Group Ltd. in 2018. Since then, the CEO has been reviewing options for smaller businesses across the world, including in the Middle East, to help pay for the XL deal.

The Singapore unit, which offers life and property and casualty insurance, generated 615 million euros (US$745 million) of revenue in 2019, according to Axa’s annual report. It also provides services in savings and investments.

Who Is Big Boss Moganasundram

Owner of Big Boss Banana Leaf Restaurant, M. Moganasundram, 37, said he is offering 100 packs of rice and side dishes for free to the public until January 26, which is the last day of the movement control order (MCO).

“(But), For me if the MCO is extended, we will continue to do it (give free free food). In fact, we have been doing this when MCO was first implemented, for, and only, to alleviate some of the burden of those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially those whose income are affected,” he said.

He said his restaurant would prepare the food side from 3pm until 5pm and then will pack the food for distribution from 6pm. Moganasundram, who employs 12 workers at his restaurant, said he set aside 10 kilogrammes of rice, 100 fish, 100 chicken eggs, 100 pieces of chicken and vegetable every day for the free food.

“For me, money is not a priority, instead doing good to fellow human beings, regardless of race and religion, is, because there are still among us who are not as fortunate as us and living in poverty. So, we have to help,” he added.

Average Joe & Jane - Needs Life Insurance

Do you have enough life insurance to provide for your family if something were to happen to you? This is a question I often receive and unfortunately, many people have no idea. After all, death and pushy life insurance agents are two things most people would probably rather not deal with.

It's an important question though. If you don't have enough, you could leave your family in a difficult financial predicament. If you buy too much, you could end up wasting thousands of dollars on something you don't really need. When determining how much life insurance to buy, here are some common myths to steer clear of:

Everyone needs to have life insurance - Life insurance has two main functions. The most common is to provide for people who are financially dependent on you like children and perhaps a spouse. The second is to pay estate taxes so that your heirs won't have to sell property or a business to do so. 

You need life insurance to pay off your debts - This is a common myth. Many people are concerned about their heirs inheriting their credit card or other debt they may have accumulated. While debts can reduce the inheritance that you leave your heirs, excess debt generally dies with you unless the debt was joint, community property or had a co-signer/guarantor.

Everyone needs life insurance to pay for your funeral and other final expenses - Purchasing a life insurance policy for this purpose can be the most expensive way to fund it. If your heirs will be inheriting any savings or other liquid assets, they can always use them to pay these costs. But if your debts wipe out your estate, a small final expense policy may make sense to avoid leaving your heirs with this burden.

Everyone needs enough life insurance to fully replace their lifetime income - Life insurance agents tend to love using this method of calculating life insurance needs because it's quick and generates large amounts of insurance needs.

You don't need to worry about your life insurance policy after you purchase it - People tend to buy life insurance and then forget about it, but a change in your financial situation or a birth, death, marriage, or divorce in your family could require you to update your beneficiaries or the amount of insurance you need. Since rates have been coming down for years due to longer life expectancies, it may also be a good idea to see if you can purchase the same amount of insurance for a lower cost, especially if your health status or lifestyle has improved. 

Protecting your family is important but so is making sure you're not wasting money on insurance that could be used for other financial needs. The key is to find the right balance for you. Don't let these common myths throw you off.

Private Hospitals - Treating Covid19

Private hospitals urged insurance companies to revise their policies and cover the cost of treatment for Covid-19 patients. Currently - most insurance companies do not provide cover for pandemics. 

The government has said that the private healthcare system might be roped in for the fight against Covid-19 as a recent surge of infections has left government facilities at breaking point. New laws under the state of emergency allow the government to direct private hospitals to take in Covid-19 cases, on pain of fines of up to RM5 million or even jail sentences if they refuse.

Private hospitals had no qualms about taking in Covid-19 patients to help reduce the burden on government hospitals. However, they could not treat Covid-19 patients for free.

Lately, private hospitals were having discussions with the health minister and finance ministry about the rate of fees to be charged for treating Covid-19 patients transferred to private hospitals from government facilities.

NTUC Sales Management Associate

NTUC Income has launched its Sales Management Associate (SMA) programme, which seeks to recruit up to 1,200 new financial advisors. The programme targets individuals with little to no financial advisory experience, such as fresh graduates and mid-career job seekers, and introduces them to the insurance industry.

According to NTUC Income, SMA is the only programme in the industry that offers integrated career tracks in financial advisory that range from tied advisors, to retail and financial advisors. This, it said, gives participants holistic exposure to the insurance industry and financial advisory before they decide on a career track to pursue.

The 18-month programme has a starting monthly base remuneration of SG$2,900, providing participants with income as they take their exams to obtain relevant licences.

After obtaining their licences, participants will receive on-the-job training at Income’s Retail Financial Service (RFS) branches as well as one-on-one mentorship from Income’s senior managers. The programme also offers “job sampling” to participants, allowing them to gain more understanding in the areas of insurance design, claims, product development, underwriting and more before embarking on a full-time financial advisory career.

“Income believes in creating shared value for the company and the community that we serve,” said Fabian Ng, Income’s general manager for consumer business. “The launch of the SMA programme is extremely timely as it helps to create meaningful job opportunities for Singaporeans in the current economic climate.

“This specially curated programme is the only one that provides three career tracks, remuneration from the day you start which includes attractive bonuses, and not to mention well-rounded learning opportunities, including mentoring, across the different facets of insurance to hone strong financial advisory skills.”

Growing Preference Buying Insurance Online

Supportive government policies and a covid-enforced spike in digital activity are pushing consumers, and their insurance needs. A survey results underline Indian consumers’ extensive use of digital platforms and their preference to purchase insurance through them.

However, traditional channels, such as agents, brokers or insurance aggregators are still the primary channels for insurance-related information searches in India.

Around 65% of Indian respondents are likely to use digital channels such as e-wallets, bank or insurance websites and e-commerce platforms to purchase insurance in the future, indicating there is potential for primary insurers to move their offerings online and engage new digital consumers. 

Digital Disruption - The growing presence of e-commerce and digital wallet apps presents opportunities for innovative partnerships between insurers and digital platforms to bridge the $369 billion health protection gap in India.

Health and safety measures intended for curbing the spread of covid-19 have now driven a clear paradigm shift towards digitalization in the post-virus era. With an increasing number of digital platforms extending their business reach into financial services, insurers need to adapt their business models to become more relevant and responsive to the latest customer needs.

Digital Preference - 1,800 consumers surveyed in India, Indonesia, and Malaysia in June 2020 to understand their attitudes toward digital platforms and perceptions of buying insurance online. Respondents were household decision-makers aged between 18 and 65 and had used digital platforms at least once within three to six months prior to being surveyed.

The survey results indicate that digital platforms have a high penetration rate in India, with an average of 90% using these channels at least once a week.

Among the different types of digital platforms, consumers in India indicated a stronger preference for purchasing insurance through payment or digital wallet and e-commerce platforms.

However, respondents also expressed various concerns when buying insurance online. Around 45% of Indian respondents found it hard to decide on the best product while 37% said there is no agent to help explain the terms.

Digital Popularity - The results reveal that while digital insurance is becoming more popular, offline support is still necessary due to the need for guidance and assistance for certain products. It is important for insurers to adopt an omni-channel approach to complement online customer journey with personal assistance to address consumer concerns.

The survey illustrates that insurers should personalize their digital offerings to drive uptake. According to the survey, the majority of the respondents (69%) are willing to share some form of personal data for a more relevant experience. Around 20% are willing to share such information only when there is a premium discount.

Jho Low 2

An enigmatic Malaysian businessman with links to the rich and famous disappears, apparently fleeing the country and leaving in his wake hundreds of millions of missing ringgit, a string of angry investors and a host of questions about how this could have been allowed to happen.

Jho Low 2 - Tedy Teow Wooi Huat is wanted in connection with a 336 million ringgit (US$83 million) money-laundering scam in Macau. The comparisons with Jho Low and the allegations against Teow are colourful to say the least. Like Low, Teow hails from Penang and appears to have had a penchant for the silver screen. While Low invested US$100 million in the Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street, a Hong Kong movie database gives Teow a presenting credit for All My Goddess, a Cantonese-language film starring Maggie Cheung Ho-yee.

Police believe Teow, 55, was the mastermind behind a syndicate that tricked people in the Chinese Special Administrative Region into investing their money in bogus companies, the “directors” of which were apparently drug users paid 15,000 ringgit (US$3,700) a month by Teow.

The investments would then be filtered through a series of “mule” accounts, to make them harder to track, before eventually being used to purchase high-end property in Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand and to invest in cryptocurrency.

Malaysian police on January 3 announced they had arrested 12 of the bogus directors in December and tracked down 91 of the mule bank accounts. Johor state police chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the investigation had revealed one Malaysian property developer had been paid 25 million ringgit from these accounts as part of a purchase of 100 luxury condominiums and commercial units in George Town, Penang.

As with Jho Low, who remains at large, the police believe that Teow, founder of MBI Group International which describes itself as having “diversified interests in resources and management developments”, is now hiding out abroad. Officers believe Teow has fled to Thailand along with his two children, who have also been accused of involvement in the scam.

MBI Group International - the scandal is likely to prompt searching questions for the authorities, given this is not the first time Teow has been in trouble with the law. His company MBI Group International made headlines in October 2019 when about 100 Chinese nationals staged a demonstration outside the embassy in Malaysia claiming they had lost their life savings to the firm.

The embassy said the people had complained of being “cheated” by an online pyramid scheme run by MBI Group International.

That demonstration came only a year after Teow, MBI Group International and its subsidiary Mface International, were in 2018 charged with various offences including issuing electronic payments unrecognised by Malaysia’s central bank, promoting pyramid schemes, and involvement in money laundering.

The offences related to a scam in which investors were encouraged to purchase MBI’s unlicensed and unrecognised cryptocurrency with real money and spend it at MBI-linked establishments, including a shopping centre called M Mall in Penang that was popular among Chinese tourists.

On that occasion, Teow was fined 3 million ringgit, Mface 7 million ringgit, and MBI 2.5 million ringgit.

A History Of Controversy - however, the 2018 incident was not Teow’s first brush with the law either. In 2011 he was fined 160,000 ringgit for misleading investors. That fine appears to have done little to harm Teow’s ability to schmooze or attract investment. Following the 2011 case, Teow went to China to seek a “second chance”.

Another video, uploaded in 2014 and titled “MBI International 5th Anniversary Gala Dinner Highlights”, shows him taking photos with hundreds of attendees dressed to the nines as they enjoy a banquet dinner and watch live performances.

A third video, uploaded in 2019, shows Teow speaking in Mandarin and calling for support for a cryptocurrency project which he claims has brought in more than 600 million ringgit in its first few days. The video shows Teow claiming the project will profit its three million members only if they hold on to or use their cryptocurrency. “Only by utilising our cryptocurrencies can we realise their worth, and that would mean wealth for all three million of us. As owners of the cryptocurrency, the key to wealth is in your hands,” he says in the video.

Prior to his fine in 2011, little had been publicly reported about Teow. However, the biographical video from 2013 suggests he started his business life at an early age, selling combs and pencils to schoolmates.