12,640 Years For Fake Savings Scheme

Thailand Criminal Court handed down prison terms totalling 12,640 years each to a married couple who ran a fake savings scheme, with victims reporting total losses of 1.3 billion baht. 
The terms were commuted to 5,056 years because they confessed. The law limits their total prison time to 20 years each.

There were nine defendants in this case - Wantanee Tippaveth, her husband Methi Chinpha and seven others.

The court heard evidence that from March to Oct 2019, the nine defendants advertised on Facebook, inviting people to invest in a savings scheme offering a high return. The minimum investment was 1,000 baht. After nine months, investors would get a return of 930 baht plus the 1,000-baht - or 1,930 baht in total.

A total of 2,533 people joined the scheme. The total investment sum was 1.3 billion baht. It was alleged the nine defendants did not use the money for investment but shared it among themselves.

The prosecutors charged all nine with multiple counts of fraud. The court found two of the nine defendants guilty as charged - Wantanee and Methi. The seven others were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Sales Standard Manual

Everyone must be on a same page once you have a sales team and a sales strategy. A sales playbook gives your team the tools and information they need to execute your strategy successfully. With a sales playbook, your sales reps know exactly what to do when selling your services—no matter the situation. Learn more about how to create a sales playbook that’ll help you win over even the most difficult customers.

Sales Playbook - is a collection of best practices for your sales team. It as a standard operation procedure (SOP) for selling your products/services. It outlines the entire selling process from prospecting to pitching. It can include sales scripts, guides and buyer personas that’ll help reps close a deal. They can also use it to learn more about the company’s goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) so they know how their performance will be measured.
A sales playbook includes all your sales plays so your reps know how to react during every stage of the selling process.

What Is a Sales Play - A sales play is basically a set of steps for a given situation. Your organization may have unique sales plays for different products or buyer personas. You can even create a sales play for each step in the sales pipeline. Sales plays are especially important because they’re what your reps will refer to on any given conversion. Ideally, you’ll have plays available for every situation they might encounter so they’ll be prepared for anything.

Why Sales Playbooks Are Important - Sales playbooks are vital for your sales team’s success for a number of reasons. A sales playbook can help you unify your sales team, save your sales team time, make it easy to hire and train new sales reps, and even help simplify the process of launching new products. 

(a) They create unity across the sales team. Everyone will be using the same sales approach based on proven best practices. When everyone uses the same tools, it can make your team feel more confident and less like they’re flying solo. This can even help foster team growth if you regularly pull in new suggestions and recommendations from your reps.

(b) They can make it easy to roll out new products. Rather than start from scratch with an entirely new marketing and sales plan, you can use your existing sales playbook to build a new sales play. Chances are, your existing sales practices will work just fine with a few tweaks.

(c) They can make it easy to hire and train new reps. New hires already have a ton to learn—so why not make it easier for them? A sales playbook has everything they’ll need to succeed. This also means they’ll be able to find answers themselves, reducing the time spent asking senior reps questions.

(d) They can save your existing reps time. Even the most veteran sales rep won’t have every detail of your sales plan memorized. Having a complete guide at their fingertips makes it easy for them to double-check details before interacting with clients. Also, it saves them from creating new sales content because it’s all there for them already.

(e) They can provide a better customer experience. With a sales playbook in place, customers don’t have to be the test subjects for new approaches. Instead, reps will be able to use proven practices to provide a solution tailored to the customers’ needs.

Components of a Sales Playbook
(a) Provide a clear and simple overview of your company. Longtime veterans will likely know all of this, but it can be a good way to help onboard newer reps. Include information on the industry and where your company fits in. Inckude basic summary of your company’s history and offerings, information on your mission and values. This helps guide sales efforts and ensure your reps stay in line with the company vision when promoting your products.

Provide a quick summary of your sales strategy. Obviously, you’ll go into more detail throughout the playbook, but use this space to specifically explain how the sales strategy works into the overall business strategy. Finally, also include a list of roles and responsibilities with an organizational chart. This gives your sales team good context on where they fit into the organization—and who they report to with questions.

(b) Products and Services - What exactly is your company selling? Your sales team needs to know your products intimately, and this is the space to explain it all. Include a robust primer on your offerings and their details. Highlight what makes your products so unique—and let your reps know what buyers would find appealing about them. It may help to attach product documentation or guides, but only if it doesn’t make the section too long and cumbersome.

Finally, you’ll want this section to also include details on pricing. Your sales reps should know the cost to make/manufacture the product as well as the cost you intend on selling it for. That way, if they’re offering a client a deal or bundle, they’ll be able to still make sure you’re turning a profit.

(c) Buyer Personas - If you don’t know who your buyers are, you’ll have a hard time marketing products to them. Crafting a good buyer persona takes a bit of research into your sales statistics, but the results are worth it.

First, you’ll want to see the basic demographics of the majority of your customers. With this information, you can start narrowing down a target audience. After you determine your audience, you can start thinking about their pain points. What are the problems they’re facing—and how can your products solve those issues?

Don’t forget to further segment your audience based on whether you’re selling B2B or B2C, as these customers usually have different motivations when buying products.

(d) Sales Methodology/Process - The sales methodology you choose will act as a framework for the entire sales process, so nail it down before getting too deep into your sales playbook. You’ll want to explain your reasoning behind choosing this methodology and then give reps tips on how they can follow it from prospecting to post-sales follow-up.

• Lead prospecting: You’ll want to explain how a rep should find leads. Do you have certain tools you’d like them to use? Or do you have instructions for cold calling?
• Lead qualification: Qualifying leads can make sure you don’t waste your time chasing down people who’ll never convert. What are your processes for going about this? Do you have lead qualification criteria or software?
• Closing sales: When a sale is looming on the horizon, there are likely some steps you’d like a rep to take. For example, do you have any policies on upselling or cross-selling products? Do you allow your reps to create custom quotes based on what combination of products the customer wants? Outline all of this in detail so there’s no ambiguity when it comes to signing on the dotted line.
• Post sales: Your sales rep isn’t done once the sale is closed. It’s always important to follow up—not just to make sure the customer is happy with the product, but also to see if there’s an opportunity to sell them anything else. However, you don’t want reps harassing customers, so create clear guidelines for how post-sales contact should go.

(e) Resources and Sales Enablement Materials - Everyone can benefit from the use of marketing materials, guides or resources. This is an important part of any sales playbook because it lets you create a library of pre-made content for agents. This section can include everything from voicemail scripts to social media content. Overall, think of this more as a database reps can come to if they get stuck or need more support on a sale.

(f) KPIs and Goals - Having set goals can help motivate your sales team. It also sets clear guidelines for what you expect from them. When establishing KPIs - consider the numbers of your top performers. Would it make sense to establish these as goals for the whole team?

Some KPIs you might want to measure include: Average profit margin

• Monthly sales growth
• Average cost per lead
• Sales per rep
• Product performance
• Quote-to-close ratio
• Average conversion time

Include clear information on how often you’ll measure performance and what consequences there are for not meeting the set goals.

(g) Commission Structure - The most important to a sales rep—establish clear rules on how commission works. What exactly will your reps get if they go above and beyond their established quotas? Include details on the base salary, and then explain with some examples how bonuses work. You’ll need to decide if you’re basing them on the number of sales or the highest-grossing sales.

Putting Together an Effective Sales Playbook
(a) Use Advice and Recommendation From the Sales Team - Your sales reps are your frontline warriors—so chances are, they’re an invaluable resource when deciding how to build your sales framework. They know which approaches work—and which don’t work. They’ve also likely heard every possible objection a person could have. Don’t let this knowledge go to waste. Pull in your sales team from the very beginning so this can be a collaborative process. Not only will this help you build a stronger playbook, but it’ll also help build a stronger team.

(b) Include a Framework for How To Align Sales and Marketing Teams - Your sales and marketing teams are two separate groups. But in reality, they share many of the same goals. There’s no reason why your playbook can’t take this into account. Your company will have stronger messaging on a united front, which could be more impressive to customers as they progress through the sales funnel.

(c) Choose a Specific Sales Methodology - Without a specific sales methodology, your playbook becomes a bit scattered and disorganized. To keep your company aligned and ensure you’re using proven methods, stick with an established framework. Some of the most common methodologies to consider includes:

• SPIN selling
• N.E.A.T. selling
• Conceptual selling
• SNAP selling

(d) Provide Training for Sales Reps - Before you test out your new sales playbook, have a training session for your sales reps. Just throwing a massive document at them and telling them to start using isn’t exactly the best way to ease into a new system. Instead, have a few different sessions where you talk through each section of the playbook. Use this time to answer any questions. Your reps might even have valuable insights you can add to the playbook before releasing the final version.

Amendment To Bankruptcy Discharge Act

Many Malaysian extended a helping hand to spouses, relatives or friends in need of money, they willingly and trustingly sign up as guarantors. Unfortunately, many of these guarantors later end up in a tight situation when the loans are not repaid, leading to some even being declared bankrupt or, worse, a few developing suicidal tendencies.

Consumer and Borrower Settlement Association of Malaysia claimed an average of about 10 people walking in to seek assistance. They are guarantors seeking help and were not even aware of the actual amount they supposedly owed. They kept paying for years because some of these loans were ‘sold’ to debt collectors, but nothing is ever given in black and white.

Guarantor - As at February this year, there were 268,744 bankruptcy cases administered by the Insolvency Department. Of this number, 634 cases involved individuals who had been declared bankrupt for being corporate guarantors while 17 cases were social guarantors.

Many people who acted as guarantors were often tricked by debt collectors or credit control officers. Generally, most Malaysians lack legal knowledge on matters related to debt settlement and repayments.

Lack Of Knowledge - Most Malaysians are not knowledgeable on banking matters and loans, and the laws that are in place such as the Limitation Act, Insolvency Act and Personal Data Protection Act. Some develop a suicidal tendency. They are unable to handle the pressure of having to deal with the debts not caused by them personally.

Bankruptcy Discharge & Second Chance - Following an announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the tabling of the revised Budget 2023, bankrupts are now given a second chance to rebuild their lives, with the government having taken several initiatives.

These include bankruptcies with debts proved not to have exceeded RM50,000 and those who satisfy the required conditions being eligible for a discharge by the Certificate of Director of Insolvency (DGI), starting March 1.

Certain provisions in the Insolvency Act would also be amended to improve the administration of bankruptcy cases. A bankrupt is eligible for a discharge by the certificate of the DGI if his proven debt in the bankruptcy does not exceed RM50,000.

It is estimated that at least 130,000 people of the total 260,000 bankruptcy cases recorded as of early this year would be freed from bankruptcy with the passing of the amendments.

General Insurance - Malaysia - Premium Growth 10%

General insurance industry has recorded an increase in gross direct premiums of 10 per cent to RM19.4 billion for 2022 compared to 2021. However, underwriting profit contracted by 23 per cent to RM1.56 billion mainly due to losses in both motor as well as medical and health insurance lines of business.

Motor Insurance Losses - General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) said motor portfolio reverted to a loss after two years of profit during the pandemic with a reported 58 per cent rise in the number of accidents as of September 2022 compared to the corresponding period in 2021. Motor insurance observed a nine per cent growth in gross direct premiums to RM9.0 billion in 2022, it recorded an underwriting loss of RM3 million with net claims incurred ratio deteriorating to 65.3 per cent reverting towards pre-pandemic levels.

Motor & Fire Insurance - The association said that motor and fire lines of business remained as the top premium contributors. Motor maintained its position as the largest business line with 46 per cent share of total premium.

Premium for fire in 2022 rose by six per cent to RM3.82 billion versus 2021 with underwriting margin improving to 39.1 per cent owing to improved claims experience.

Personal accident - saw a significant 43 per cent growth in premium year-on-year largely due to the Perlindungan Tenang Voucher (PTV) Program initiated by the Finance Ministry and Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with the general, life and takaful insurance industry.

The 2022 premiums for miscellaneous, and marine aviation and transit (MAT) classes of insurance also trended upwards by 10 per cent and eight per cent to RM2.7 billion and RM1.5 billion, respectively.

Medical and health insurance (MHI) saw a one per cent rise in premium to RM976 million compared to 2021. However, MHI underwriting margin more than halved to five per cent in 2022 from 12.1 per cent in 2021 due to higher claims.

Insurance claims - General insurance industry settled closed to RM19 million daily on total insurance claims. The amount of daily claims payout is reverting to pre-pandemic trend in 2022 with a 23 per cent y-o-y rise versus 2021.

Over the past decade, motor daily claims payout represented the majority of total claims averaging at RM13 million per day (72 per cent of total payout). Motor daily claims payout rose to RM13 million a day last year following reductions in the previous three years.

RM11 Billion Unclaimed Money

There is approximately RM11 billion in Unclaimed Money (WTD) belonging to the public as of March, 2023. The amount was out of the RM14.1 billion received by the Accountant-General's Department from companies or firms in accordance with Section 8 of the Unclaimed Money Act (Act 370) from 1977 until last month.

Of the total amount, about RM3.2 billion, such as in saving accounts, insurance and deposits, had been refunded to its owners. A large portion of the RM11 billion in WTD has been invested by the government in fixed deposits in accordance with the Financial Procedure Act 1957, (and) the interest earned (from fixed deposits) is accounted for in the Consolidated Revenue Account.

From that fixed deposit, government gets RM250 million in interest and we use that money for the people," he told reporters after a visit to Accountant-General's Department here today.

Unclaimed Money - WTD is defined as money that is legally payable to the owner but has remained unpaid for a period of not less than one year, money standing to the credit of an account that has not been operated in whatever manner by the owner for a period of not less than seven years and money to the credit of a trade account that has remained dormant for a period of not less than two years.

Owners are urged to claim their money by submitting an application through the eGUMIS portal, at the department's counters nationwide or by mail sent directly to the WTD Putrajaya office. The eGUMIS portal launched in 2020 received about 17.2 million visitors as of last month with the number of registered users being almost 4.4 million users.

During the same period, a total of 354,912 online WTD claim applications were received and of that amount, a total of RM199 million in claim amount was processed. The Accountant-General Department was developing an eGUMIS Mobile application, which can be used in the fourth quarter of this year.

The government also intends to amend Act 370, involving the period of transfer to the Consolidated Revenue Account from 15 years to 10 years, to redefine WTD according to Sections 8(a) and 8(c) of Act 370, and the amount of fines imposed on companies or firm for non-compliance.

RM17.5 Million Investment Scam

A total of 92 police reports have been lodged against the "Planetrade" investment scheme, which incurred about RM17.5mil in losses since two years ago. Three men and six women were detained in connection with the investment scheme last year.

The main suspect, who is the scheme's mastermind, has been charged under Section 420 of the Penal Code and Section 137(1) of the Financial Services Act 2013. Another suspect, the company director, was also charged under Section 109 of the Penal Code while seven others were released and became prosecution witnesses.

Various assets and funds belonging to the company were seized including RM700,533 in 27 bank accounts, six vehicles worth a total RM1.1mil and 11 million stocks. The investigation was conducted thoroughly. Those arrested had roles in managing or promoting the investment scam.

Among those arrested were investors who acted as authorised introducer. They received payments for every investor they brought in.

Malaysia Inadequate Retirement Fund

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has cautioned that the retirement savings of an average Malaysian may likely dry up 19 years before their deaths. Given this forecast, it is crucial for the country to implement several “immediate priorities” to remedy the situation, as drafting social reforms to address the matter will require a longer timeframe.

Can Last 3 Years Only - In its Economic & Monetary Review 2022, BNM laid out how it came to the conclusion, stating that prior to Covid-19, the median savings for retirees aged between 51 to 55 years old can usually hold out for approximately five years. Following the numerous Covid-19-related withdrawals, however – which caused the median savings of certain segments in the society to drop drastically – the savings will now only last them around three years.

To further complicate things, average global life expectancies are also expected to increase, rising to above 77 years old by 2050. These facts all add up to contribute to BNM’s belief that the average Malaysian will deplete his or her retirement savings 19 years before their deaths. As such, it has suggested several shorter-term policies that can be implemented immediately to help rebuild the resilience and adequacy of the people’s retirement savings in a post-pandemic landscape.

BNM’s first idea involves the ringfencing and reinvestment of retirement funds to lengthen the accumulation stage, which it says, “needs to be urgently instituted”. “This involves reinvesting a portion of savings that would otherwise have been withdrawn upon the withdrawal age, thereby extending the accumulation period,” said BNM, adding that Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members in the B40 income group (aged between 50 to 54) can potentially gain up to an additional RM36,800 savings if they defer withdrawals and continue contributing up to the age of 60.

Aging Society - Aside from that, BNM also proposed enhancements to old-age social safety nets (usually in the form of targeted cash assistance programmes) to ensure that the basic needs of retirees are taken care of. In Malaysia, approximately 19.5% of individuals aged 60 and above are already receiving old-age benefits; this percentage is only expected to grow with Malaysia becoming an aging society. To support this potential development, BNM said that the government must enhance the adequacy and reach of Malaysia’s old-age safety nets.

“Adequacy can be enhanced by ensuring that assistances are linked to standard of living measures. For example, the minimum pension for public sector employees at RM1,000 per month could be used as a benchmark for cash assistance, similar to how it is used by EPF as the basis for Basic Savings. The reach of programmes can be widened by consolidating assistances towards a single flagship programme (such as Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah), thereby maximising ease of access,” said BNM.

Yet another suggestion by BNM is to tap into old-age productivity and social mobility to enhance income. This revolves around crafting suitable job opportunities for senior individuals who may want to work again. At present, BNM said that there is a lack of suitable occupations for such individuals as there is low employment demand for old-age workers. Some initiatives that can be implemented immediately include providing contract hiring incentives.

BNM’s final proposal is to ensure that comprehensive social protection data is made readily available to all relevant parties so that policy intervention can be carried out in a timely manner. The central bank specifically pinpointed the informal sector of the Malaysian workforce as a segment that will benefit from this. At present, information gaps exist in the informal sector because current social security arrangements and data are only captured via formal employment. Capturing data on informal and gig workers will allow the government to better assist them with boosting their retirement funds.

“As a start, automatic registration of all 18-year-olds into EPF and Social Security Organisation’s (SOCSO) databases can be explored. This is in line with the government’s pursuit of building a harmonised social protection database (Pangkalan Data Perlindungan Sosial – PDPS),” said BNM.

Low Wage Structure - Ultimately, BNM acknowledged that reforming the old-age protection system is a broad and highly complex policy challenge for Malaysia; it needs to be addressed over a longer time frame as most of its obstacles encountered are structural in nature, such as the country's low wage structure. However, it stressed that shorter-term policies can be executed in the meantime to address urgent needs.

“It is worth emphasising that these enhancements are no substitute for necessary long-term economic reforms that can raise current income levels. A labour market underpinned by robust productivity and high financial literacy are vital complements for a better pension system. Therefore, enhancements over both short- and long-term horizons are needed concurrently to ensure continued strengthening of the economy, supported by an effective social protection system,” the central bank said.