Unethical Corporate behavior

No one likes a con artist. Over time – if not right away – customers know when they are being “had.” It can range from slightly exaggerated claims to blatant lies – and everything in between. This is unethical marketing.

On the other hand, ethical marketing is about truth and transparency. 94% of consumers are likely to be loyal to a brand that offers complete transparency. Furthermore, 73% of consumers say they would be willing to pay more for a product from such a brand.

Here are some of the more popular answers:

• 69 % said marketing that exaggerates or distorts the truth is unethical
• 64 % said marketing that targets and exploits vulnerable groups is unethical
• 62 % said marketing that conceals important information is unethical
• 58 % said marketing that is shaming is unethical
• 56 % said marketing that uses unrealistic or altered images is unethical
• 56 % said marketing that induces anxiety or fear is unethical
• 43 % said high pressure sales tactics are unethical

There were others, but you get the idea. On the front end, if consumers recognize that they are on the receiving end of these unethical practices, they will take their business elsewhere. On the back end, after purchasing a product, if the consumer experiences any of these unethical tactics, he or she will feel duped – and may share the story on social media. These customers may tell their friends. Regardless, the experience has been ruined. The chance of repeat business from this customer is questionable, if not doubtful or ruined completely.

Insincere - plenty of companies have hidden fees – banks, utility companies, cable and internet companies, and more. They advertise a price but when the customer receives the bill, there are, in addition to the price, taxes and other fees the customer doesn’t understand. And when these are explained, the customer often disagrees with them.

For example - a hotel charged a daily “resort fee” on its bill. Customer were not informed about this when they checked in. Maybe they missed it in the “fine print” when they made their reservation. This hotel claimed the resort fee included free use of the internet and access to the gym. Much more reasonably priced hotels didn’t charge a “resort fee” for those amenities.

Another example. A printer told his customer that the printing project would be done by a certain date. When he missed the delivery date, he said that if he had told the customer how long the project was actually going to take, the client would probably would have found someone else to print it. He was right. Most customer found a new printer for their next project.

Customer Confidence - part of a good customer experience is the confidence and trust the customer has in the company. Exaggerating or distorting the truth, even slightly, is a lie. Total transparency and honesty are expected – even assumed – by most. The good news is that the consumer has a way to fight back against unethical marketing. Today, the customer’s voice is louder than ever thanks to social media. Cross the customer, and the brand may find itself in a public relations nightmare.

There’s an old saying: buyer beware. Today’s version of that saying may be the reverse: company beware. If you cross your customers, they may walk. Even worse, they may talk. When they talk, it may be to more than just a few friends. It could be the next viral message that is seen by tens of thousands, or even millions. Transparency is key. Your reputation is your brand. Don’t destroy it with unethical marketing messages and customer experiences that skirt the line of good taste and ethics.

Covid Accelerates Underwriting

Interest in coverage has surged during the pandemic, but for many people, social distancing mandates took the life insurance medical exam off the table. As consumers look for quick, noninvasive ways to buy policies, insurers have turned to accelerated underwriting, a process that uses algorithms instead of exams to evaluate applicants.

While accelerated underwriting isn’t new, more than a third of life insurers have expanded it due to the pandemic, according to a study by the Society of Actuaries. And no-exam life insurance appeals to many people. Life insurance applicants want it to be fast and easy.

Accelerated underwriting can help you get life insurance quickly online, but there are caveats. What you gain in speed, you may lose in flexibility and price.

Big Data Changes Process - buying life insurance was a lengthy process involving bloodwork, urine samples and long waits for approval. It was probably the hardest or most difficult product to buy left in the modern economy.

This changed as the world became steeped in big data. Insurers now typically check your prescription drug history and data from the MIB Group, an information-sharing service for insurers. Companies may also consider non-medical data, such as your credit history, driving record and shopping habits. Algorithms then combine these data points to quickly determine eligibility and cost of coverage. This data can be tricky to dissect, but industry experts expect the trend to grow.

Accelerated Underwriting - Companies typically use accelerated underwriting techniques in two ways:

1. Fast Track Healthy People Application - many major carriers approve low-risk applicants based on big data and then require medical exams for everyone else. On average, it takes nine days for an insurer to reach a final decision using accelerated underwriting instead of the traditional 27, according to LIMRA. These policies are considered fully underwritten, even if you don’t take an exam.

2. Provide Instant Answers - Insurers use information from your application and big data algorithms to assess risk, and never require a medical exam. Coverage is not guaranteed, but the application process is fast and you often get an answer within minutes.

Accelerated underwriting is not to be confused with “simplified issue” life insurance, which considers the answers on your application but doesn’t tap into big data. These policies typically cost more and offer less coverage than standard policies because they rely on limited information.

Key Points To Consider When Choosing Policy - when shopping for life insurance, be sure to ask how the policy is priced. Both instant-answer and fully underwritten policies have pros and cons, and your specific needs will dictate what is right for you.

Before you apply, ask yourself these questions:

1: How Fast Do You Want Coverage - If speed is paramount, consider instant-answer policies that solely use big data and never require an exam. You will get an answer quickly, although the answer may be no. Nearly 85% of people who apply - using this application method - do through a mobile device.

2: How Much Do You Want To Pay - A policy with full medical underwriting is likely to be the cheapest option. If the insurer chooses to use accelerated underwriting to fast-track your application, you are not penalized; your price and product will likely be the same as if you had taken the exam.

Instant-answer policies may not offer rates in the cheapest brackets since the insurer doesn’t have the option of a medical exam to get more information. Some people will trade off that ability to get a fast decision at a reasonable price.

Do You Prefer Flexibility - Fully underwritten life insurance may offer more options, such as the ability to convert from term to permanent coverage. This is not always true of policies that rely solely on your application information and big data. When you at least have that medical exam as a possibility, you get a more robust product.

Woman Claimed US$1.5 Million Life Insurance Fraudulently

Pakistani authorities have launched an investigation after a woman fraudulently got herself declared dead and claimed two life insurance policies worth $1.5 million. Federal Investigating Agency (FIA), that is investigating the case, Seema Kharbay travelled to the US in 2008 and 2009, and bought two hefty life insurance policies in her name.

In 2011, she bribed some local government officials in Pakistan including a doctor and got a death certificate issued in her name. The document also showed that she had been buried. The certificate was used by her children to claim two life insurance policy payouts worth $1.5 million (approximately 23 crore Pakistani Rupees), the official said.

Kharbay, after being declared dead, travelled at least 10 times abroad from the Karachi International Airport, apparently under assumed identities with none of the airlines being able to detect the fraud.

The FIA human trafficking cell has now registered criminal cases against the woman, her son and daughter and some local government officials, including a doctor.

Managing Effectively In A pandemic

Several workplace surveys were conducted and the common miistakes manager made more frequently than others. The data reveals some obvious patterns that continue to exist even as we have shifted to remote work. Five most common themes -- the five biggest mistakes bosses make that disengage their employees. 

Micromanaging - Managers who dominate people, decisions, and processes and lead by fear makes this the No.1 mistake. Micromanaging ultimately derails your team's motivation and creativity. Since Covid-19, the lines between work and personal life no longer exist when teams work remotely. The 9-to-5 schedule has become extinct and flexibility to work at a time that's best for your employees should be the norm. The issue most managers run into with asynchronous work is keeping up with their teams' varying schedules while still hitting their productivity targets. 

Managing Through Power Or Ego - Hubris is the cause of much conflict and grief. As one survey respondent succinctly put it: "Intellectual arrogance is like a termite to some leaders and networks." When managers put themselves on a pedestal as the source for having all the answers and best ideas, and use it to wield power or control over their people, it destroys morale. We all have some level of selfishness residing within us, but too much focus on our own pride and ego in a team atmosphere influences our decisions, usually to a bad ending.


Failing To Listen - Listening has become a lost art. The lack of active and respectful listening, and two-way communication -- sending without receiving -- is a clear shortcoming in many managers. Perhaps it's because they're running in high gear trying to meet deadlines and hit their marks, and simply don't take the time to slow down and truly listen to what's going on around them. This can be risky because it could mean missing out on vital cues that impact performance, and even their own effectiveness and career growth. Managers who listen to and act on feedback show employees that they care about them. This sets the tone that if workers come to their managers with issues or concerns, they'll be heard, taken seriously, and addressed appropriately.

Disregarding Employees - One mistake that rose to the top points to the overarching theme of managers dismissing the value of their people. They either don't care, don't know how to care, or stopped caring. In essence, it's the leader who thinks anyone is replaceable and sees employees as "cogs on a wheel" rather than worthy colleagues to be treated like business partners in producing excellence. What do employees want in order to truly feel valued by their bosses? Two that stood out for me are:- Invest in employees with development and mentoring opportunities. Identify each person's unique skills and strengths, and use them where they are best suited for business outcomes.

Lack Of Trust - Since customer-facing and frontline employees are the ones most intimately acquainted with how things work in the trenches, it behooves managers to gain their trust by coming to them first for input, buy-in, advice, and ideas for strategy. This fosters a culture of trust, where followers feel safe enough to question, contribute ideas, and share concerns that have value and can help resolve problems.

Finally, let's take into account that managers are people too and, therefore, should not be demonized. The majority have good intentions and should be treated with respect and empowered with the tools and development they need to succeed.

Life Insurance During Your Lifetime

Life insurance coverage plays different role during key moments of your adult life. You may not always need it, or need it the same way, but life insurance can help during all life's stages.

During Age 20s And 30s - This is the period of time when you are adjusting to life in the "real world," so it's understandable if life insurance isn't a top priority. But appreciating how it works can help you avoid making crucial errors that could affect you down the road.

65% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 did not have life insurance policies. Meanwhile, Americans now carry US$1.6 trillion worth of student loan debt. Even though the majority of student loans (92%) are federal loans — meaning that debt is forgiven should you pass away — there is still US$131.8 billion in private loan debt in this country. Add to this the fact that the country's outstanding credit card debt and other revolving debt have risen almost 20% in the past decade, according to a January survey from CompareCards. Those debts are not forgiven, and a life insurance policy can protect you from passing that debt burden on to a loved one.

During Age 40s And 50s - By this point, you have likely earned more assets, which can include a mortgage, lingering or perhaps even increasing credit card debt, and dependents in the form of children and aging parents in retirement. You want to make sure your family is taken care of on both ends of the spectrum.

Life insurance can and should evolve as your needs change. A new family might consider short-term coverage to help build savings during that early childhood period. If you are interested in more long-term estate planning or if you anticipate ongoing child care needs — in the case of special needs, for example — you may find that permanent coverage best suits your situation.

In general, this is the period where you begin to take stock of your family goals and plans. A common question is whether both parents need life insurance. If one parent plans to stay home and care for the child or children full time, it might be tempting to assume that only the primary breadwinner would need coverage. But consider the services the stay-at-home parent provides. In the case of their untimely death, would the surviving parent need to pay to replace those valuable child care services? Insurance could also help the surviving parent cover costs and expenses while dealing with an upended life.

During Age 60s And Beyond - At this point you may be considering retirement. Your children (if you decided to have a family) may be grown and starting their own families, and you may consider the need for life insurance coverage waning.

During this stage of life, the focus should be shifting toward securing your financial legacy. Life insurance can be used to help pay off any remaining debts to ensure they aren't passed on to your loved ones. A will cannot be processed until the debt is paid, and if those left behind are unable to cover the owed money, it is taken out of the estate. In some cases, a policy payout itself could become an inheritance for a child or grandchild should there be any uncertainty about the financial strength of your estate.

When you’re 60 or older and seeking the best coverage option, it's important to ask if life insurance is even a necessary purchase. If you don't have loved ones who are financially dependent on you and you have savings set up for burial expenses, then it's probably unnecessary. If you still have dependents or want to ensure funds for end-of-life planning, term life insurance could also be a good fit to put coverage in place for that financially vulnerable period.

Covis Offers Insurer Digital Opportunities

With millions of infections and hundreds-of-thousands of American lives lost from COVID-19, vast numbers of people are paying greater attention to the thought of their own mortality and what would happen to their loved ones if they should pass away. While the increased awareness is hopefully spurring people to protect themselves and one another by isolating and wearing masks, it’s also leading Americans to investigate and purchase life and retirement products in surging numbers.

Increased Awareness - The pandemic has forced life insurance organizations to take a good, hard look at their digital capabilities. COVID-19 dramatically increased consumer demand for life and retirement products. Approximately, 67 percent of Americans say the pandemic has been a wake-up call for them to examine their finances – and to look into life insurance.

If you look from a pure market perspective, many more people started to face the realities and began thinking about both their mortality and long term income needs. Consumer search traffic for life insurance specifically, with search volumes in the first few months of 2020 up to 50 percent higher. Conversion rates also remain strong.

Consumer awareness of the need for these products has been elevated, resulting in an increased need for them to purchase these products. More than half of adult Americans reported owning a life insurance policy, a drop of 9 percentage points from 2010. But it is projected that the intent to purchase life insurance will be at an all-time high in the following 12 months.

Online insurance marketplace has seen life policy sales grow about 30 percent due to the pandemic. Insurer attributed this activity to the sort of “panic buying” that happened after the 9/11 attacks. “I better get it now because I might get COVID and be at risk.

Social Distancing - The need for social distancing and limiting in-person interactions has made it essential for insurers to have digital interaction and sales process capabilities. But unfortunately, many insurance companies didn’t have a way to meet the increasing demand coupled with the need to sell policies remotely, and they missed out on that opportunity. As a result, many carriers have reported slower revenue numbers and others have announced employee layoffs. Digitallycapable insurance companies, however, are selling more policies and gaining market share.

Having The Right Capabilities - The pandemic has made it essential for large legacy insurers to come up with a solid strategy around platform modernization, platform simplification, simplification of their business architecture and being able to engage with consumers on their preferred channels. These must include an array of options, including potentially a direct model, and their existing distribution model, which can be through their captive or independent distributors or insurance marketing organizations (IMOs). All these distribution models are both valid and necessary. But insurers can’t ignore the direct model any longer. 

Direct Is Not Always A Replacement for other distribution channels but can be an extension with its own operating models and products. Investment into the direct model is an investment into future generations. The direct model isn’t completely hands-off but includes capabilities for when customers might require digital or even human guidance or advice. There are times when consumers still may need to talk to someone. Even if they’ve done 80 percent of the research, they still might need a human to help them cross the mental or technology barriers or to understand some of the complex product features. Offering human interaction is a must.

Insurers need to approach the problem back to front and front to back. On the front-end, they need more digital capabilities, and they must have better engagement tools and capabilities so they can not only reach out to customers but also stay in touch regularly. On the back-end, they need better digitally-enabled core platforms and a robust back-end ecosystem. This ecosystem may include many partners that also take advantage of all the innovation happening in the marketplace with the opportunity to leverage industry data, APIs and micro-services within their architecture to integrate capabilities to enable new experiences and new products as the needs of customers continue to evolve.

Opportunity In Chaos - Life carriers need to reposition themselves to take advantage of the opportunities the pandemic presents. When the pandemic hit, some organizations that ran large call centers and didn’t have remote call center capabilities found themselves in a bad position, particularly those that operate near larger cities, and especially on the coastal cities. If an organization without these remote call center capabilities operated in New York or New Jersey, for instance, it was not operational or productive for the customer when they needed them the most. And if the carrier lacked remote technology capabilities so reps could work from anywhere, it was severely limited.

Going Digital - Many companies run large mailrooms and print shops because the industry still uses paper-based communications. These organizations had to work through enormous logistical and safety challenges when the shelter-in-place directives took effect. In today’s day and age, eDelivery and digital applications are real. Having the ability to digitally accept an application or issue a policy in real-time and being able to eDeliver a policy as well as deliver correspondence and create self-service for consumers, and in some cases, for the distributor as well, since they’re also working from home and do want self-service capabilities as well.

Companies that were prepared with either leveraging technology partners with those capabilities or investing in those technologies themselves have been not only able to meet the pandemic’s challenges, but are equipping them to grow their business in many ways, even beyond the pandemic.

Malaysia Life Insurance - 3rd Quarter 2020 Growth

Malaysia life insurance industry experienced a strong third quarter (3Q20) with new business premiums growing by 44% to RM2.92 billion from RM2.02 billion in premiums recorded in 2Q20. 

Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) stated that the strong performance seen in 3Q20 was mainly due to improvement in the investment-linked business, growing by some 94% from RM737.72 million in 2Q20 to RM1.43 billion in 3Q20. The reopening of the economy after the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Recovery MCO (RMCO) fuelled the growth as the government put in efforts to revitalise the economy. In addition, the pandemic increased awareness among Malaysians on the importance of financial protection as a safety net in facing uncertainties in life.

Individual new business premiums saw an increase of 32% to RM733.75 million for 3Q20 compared to RM556.01 million in the previous quarter this year. Group new business premiums recorded an increase of 2% to RM750.51 million from RM732.22 million in 2Q20.

The total premium in 2Q20 from new business fell 37% to RM2.03 billion compared to RM3.22 billion in 1Q20. The drop was mainly in the sales of group policies and investment-linked policies which contracted by 56% and 25% respectively.

2Q20 was the most challenging so far as the regulations imposed during MCO and RMCO prevented agents from conducting face-to-face selling for about three months.

The industry sold a total of 340,061 new policies in 3Q20, recording a growth of 39% from 2Q20, including a total of 165,329 new investment-linked policies and 169,814 individual policies.

The industry experienced a 23% drop in investment-linked policies and group policies sold in 2Q20 compared to 1Q20.

Investment-linked policies went from 142,750 to 109,342, while the number of group policies fell from 6,215 to 4,812. Individual policies registered a double-digit growth of 16% or from 112,075 to 130,326 policy units, reflecting the demand in individual policies during the pandemic.

The industry registered a modest growth of 6.5% in total premiums year-on-year, where total premiums for investment-linked and individual policies in 3Q20 were higher by 20.7% and 1.2% respectively compared to 3Q19.

A moderate growth of 3.8% in the number of new policies was recorded for 3Q20 compared to the same quarter last year, while individual new policies increased by 25.6% and group new policies increased by 4.7% compared to the same period in 2019.