Canada 355 Year-old Company Shutting Down

On Sunday, a month after it marked the 355th anniversary of its founding, the Bay, as it is commonly known, is permanently closing its 80 department stores throughout Canada.
The company was much more than just a retailer and the last traditional, full-line department store chain in Canada. In 1670, Britain, which claimed part of present-day Canada, set up the company as a fur trader and granted it a vast stretch of territory equal to what is about a third of Canada, without asking the indigenous people whose land it was.

Long before US President Trump’s trade war and his calls to make Canada the 51st state stoked anti-American sentiment in Canada, the purchase in 2008 of a cultural institution like the Bay by Richard A Baker, a New Yorker whose family controlled an array of shopping malls, was widely viewed with suspicion among Canadians.

At first, Baker made good on his promise that he had not bought the Bay for its real estate — although he did cash in on that later. His investments in the stores and his appointment of Bonnie Brooks, a respected Canadian retailer, as president and chief executive turned Hudson’s Bay sagging fortunes around.

To compete with the rise of online retailing, Baker invested heavily in the Bay’s e-commerce.
And part of Brooks’s revitalisation involved playing up the company’s heritage. Merchandise, from measuring cups to wooden canoes, started appearing bearing the distinctive green, red, yellow and indigo stripes of the Bay’s “point blankets.”

Many parts of the five-story store were already empty or filled with small armies of mannequins, boxes of clothes hangers and store fixtures of every imaginable variety — all for sale. Mid-last week, the most popular of those new offerings seemed to be indoor-outdoor rugs marked down by 90 per cent. A steady stream of shoppers walked out struggling to haul them away.

China Rewarding Whistleblower On Medical Fraud

China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) has launched a tip-off service via its official WeChat account that enables organizations and members of the public to report leads on medical insurance fraud. Under the terms of the scheme, eligible informants will be rewarded with a one-time payment ranging from ¥200 (about US$28) to ¥200,000, according to the administration.

Noting that the misuse of medical insurance funds undermines public interests, NHSA urged the whole society to make efforts in combating the problem.

The Chinese government has vowed to continue strengthening oversight of medical insurance funds to ensure every penny is maximised for the benefit of public health.

Other efforts to prevent medical insurance fraud include the development of a system to validate healthcare professionals who are able to process medical insurance funds. Elsewhere, a drug traceability code – an electronic ID – is being considered for every medication. The hope is that this will curb fraudulent activities such as the resale and substitution of medications people are taking, as well as the abuse of medical insurance cards and fake prescriptions. The problem of abuse of medication related to insurance funding is already being addressed through a scheme that encourages pharmacies to integrate with a new reimbursement system for provision of outpatient services. The scheme enables those with medical insurance to be reimbursed for the cost of their medication at these pharmacies.

The Xinhua news agency reports that in 2024, China’s medical insurance watchdogs recovered ¥27.5 billion of misused medical insurance funds, with a total of 10,741 suspects arrested.

Malaysia Insurance Fraud Rising

Insurance fraud continues to be a significant issue in Malaysia, with millions of ringgit lost in scams each year. In the past five years, 97 cases of insurance fraud have been recorded, resulting in RM8.57 million in losses.

Common fraud schemes include staged accidents, false injury claims and even faked deaths. In some extreme cases, policyholders have resorted to arson to collect
insurance payouts. Fraudulent activities include criminal breach of trust by insurance agents, causing RM3.26 million in losses, and false claims against the Social Security Organisation, totalling RM4.95 million. The most common fraud involves false accident claims, which have led to losses of RM226,402.10.”

General Insurance Association of Malaysia underscored the importance of vigilance in a world in which fraudsters are increasingly using advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, to deceive victims. Insurance fraud is a crime that affects everyone, leading to higher costs of goods and services, and resulting in insured properties being unnecessarily damaged or not repaired properly.

The association encouraged the public to use the Semak Mule system and the National Scam Response Centre hotline 997 to verify bank accounts and report suspicious activity. The insurance industry is making strides in preventing fraud with systems such as the Fraud Intelligence System, which tracks fraud patterns across insurers, and the Claims and Underwriting Exchange system, which allows insurers to cross-check policies and claims.

Limited resources make fraud investigations challenging. Consumers need to ensure their agents are legitimate by checking their credentials on Bank Negara Malaysia’s approved list of agents.

Health insurance scams, particularly those targeting Takaful policyholders, have become more sophisticated. Fraudsters often impersonate legitimate Takaful operators, phishing for personal and banking details through fake calls, emails and messages under the guise of updating records or offering exclusive benefits.

Malaysian Takaful Association advised consumers to verify agent credentials through the association’s online registry. Avoid cash payments and always pay premiums directly to the insurance company or Takaful operator while encouraging policyholders to be cautious about sharing personal information.

By staying informed, verifying agents and promptly reporting suspicious activities, Malaysians could better protect themselves from falling victim to insurance fraud.

Malaysia General Insurance Outlook 2025

Malaysia’s general insurers will be under pressure to consolidate and increase premiums to counter squeezed returns under stricter capital rules that will take effect in 2027. 

Insurers that fail to adapt or scale up could become acquisition targets. Malaysia’s insurance market is expected to continue growing, but players may need to raise personal premiums “to preserve shareholder value.”

The incoming solvency rules force insurers to provide capital for increased risk from floods that have become more frequent and more severe, among other charges. The flood event in 2021-2022 caused about $700m in insured losses. Insurers may need to improve catastrophe modelling capabilities.

Flood risk calibration under RBC 2 would heavily depend on how insurers integrate exposure data into pricing, reinsurance structuring, and capital projections. Stricter capital rules under RBC 2 could boost demand for reinsurance, with foreign players likely to benefit amidst strained domestic capacity.

Building this expertise will not be cheap. The industry faces upfront and recurring costs—from licensing vendor models to hiring or training actuarial talent. Human capital is a particular pressure point. There is currently a gap in specialized knowledge within the market and amongst individual insurers.

Insurers should also upgrade operations, including finding other ways to test scenarios, assumption reviews, and internal risk assessments—all of which will stretch budgets and timelines.

UnitedHealth Group Alleged Fraud

UnitedHealth Group is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged criminal healthcare fraud. The federal probe is focusing largely on UHG’s business practices surrounding Medicare Advantage, although the nature of the allegations remains unclear.

Shares in the company tumbled 16% when the probe was revealed, hitting a five-year low on Thursday. While details of the probe remain limited, the news has heightened investor concerns. Shares in the UnitedHealth Group tumbled after it was reported that the largest health insurer in the US is under investigation over possible criminal fraud.

Earlier this week, the vast healthcare firm announced its CEO, Andrew Witty, was stepping down for personal reasons as it suspended its full-year financial outlook due to higher-than-expected medical costs.

It has been a punishing period for UnitedHealth, starting in December when its executive Brian Thompson was targeted and killed outside a New York City hotel. 

Medicare is a US government-run health insurance program for older and disabled people, Medicare Advantage is a program under which private health insurers contract with the Medicare program to provide health benefits.

Common Sales Pitch Unit-linked Insurance Policy

The most common life insurance sales pitches that you should be wary of:

This product is like a mutual fund
In the last one-and-a-half years, several life insurance companies have launched ‘new fund offers (NFO)’ for small-cap and mid-cap fund options attached to their unit-linked insurance policies (Ulip), However, the term ‘insurance’ was conspicuous by its absence in several advertisements, leaving scope for lay individuals to misinterpret these products as mutual funds. Regulators started barring insurers from issuing advertisements without references to the embedded life cover element. 

An endowment policy offers FD-like secure returns, plus tax benefits
For risk-averse investors, they are lured to guaranteed returns with the prospect of such returns as being tax-free. Often, it’s senior citizens who fall prey to such sales pitches by bank officials, only to realize at the time of renewal that the product involves recurring premium payment commitment over 5-10 years or more. Also, elderly individuals end up paying for the life cover' mortality charges when it is unnecessary as they do not have dependents.

The returns under guaranteed traditional policies range between 4 percent and 7 percent over the long term. Exiting early if you find the policy to be unsuitable later comes at a cost - loss of part of your premiums.

In fact, insurance is not at all about income or return but protection. And the protection element in such policies is much lower. Instead, look at buying adequate term insurance covers, which are available at affordable premiums.

Life insurance policy offers triple benefit of life cover, tax savings and investments
The oldest and most common sales pitch, particularly deployed during the tax planning months appeals to salaried employees who are in a hurry to make tax-saver investments during this period. It is best to not treat tax planning as an isolated exercise. It should be part of your overall financial plan that is drawn up at the beginning of the year. Invest every month and through the year, instead of completing the task closer to the deadline.

Buy a guaranteed policy to avoid the market volatility risks
With life insurance companies increasing their focus on non-linked, non-participating, guaranteed endowment policies, such products are being promoted heavily due to the assured maturity proceeds they are promised.

This is in contrast with Ulips where returns are market-linked. Moreover, while participating endowment policies, too, yield secure returns, they do not offer a fixed maturity amount as the final corpus depends on annual and terminal bonuses declared during the tenure.

While policyholders with lower risk appetite might find guaranteed payouts to be a source of comfort, the fact remains that they stand to earn only 4-7 percent annualized returns despite staying invested over the long term.

Look EAST

People spend most of their time on autopilot. This means people will often perform activities almost without thinking. Knowing this, behavioral economists developed the EAST framework as a method to assist us in performing desired behaviors without the need for a person to really think about it.

Developed in 2012, the EAST framework outlines four characteristics to successfully drive behavior change. The four characteristics are: Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely.

(E)asy - To help people successfully complete their tasks, an important characteristic is to make them easy, without obstacles. One technique is to have a default option. People tend to subscribe to the default option because it is the easiest choice to make. By making the desired behavior the default option, people will more likely adopt the desired behavior. Another technique is to ensure that messages are simple and easy to read, as difficult messages are more likely to be ignored.

For example: moving the fruit and vegetables to the entrance of a supermarket, making it easy for customers to purchase healthier food options.
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(A)ttractive - People are more likely to adopt things that are known, and especially if they are desirable or attractive. Consider the use of advertisements: good advertisements stand out and use creative details that make you interested in whatever it is they are promoting. They could also use incentives, such as attractive prices or rewards.

For example, offering prizes to those who are able to answer questions correctly at the end of a presentation, encouraging audiences to pay attention to you.

‍(S)ocial - Humans are social beings, so we tend to be influenced by other people's opinions or actions and often look for approval. By highlighting that a behavior is common, popular, or already adopted by someone famous, individuals are more likely to adopt the same behavior.

For example, sharing statistics to show the average cost of electricity usage in an Australian household, encouraging those who use more to reduce their electricity consumption.

‍(T)imely - To ensure people perform a desired behavior, choosing the correct time is important. Most people follow habitual routines, and changing habits is not easy. However, these habits can be broken through major disruptions and changes that affect performing the habitual behavior.

An example of making a desired behavior timely is to ask customers to fill out a customer service form immediately after receiving service, increasing the likelihood that the customer will fill out the form. It is also important to note that humans are often more influenced by immediate effects rather than future ones. Therefore, highlighting immediate benefits to a change can also increase the likelihood of a behavior being adopted.
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When using EAST
When changing behavior using EAST, more than one characteristic can be used together. For example, your bank may request that you take a “short, 2-minute survey” immediately after using their services, providing you with a direct link to the survey you can access on your phone. This email uses two characteristics: Easy and Timely. It is timely because the request was made immediately after using their services when you are not busy nor can be distracted by other priorities. They have also made it easy as they have provided a direct link, removing any obstacles that you may face accessing the survey.

Nonetheless, as previously noted, it is important to note that the EAST framework is not often used by itself. It is mostly used in combination with other strategies that require deeper research about the behavior and the target audience.

“The EAST framework is like a seasoning, like salt that you sprinkle over food. It increases the chances of tasting delicious, but it isn’t the main element of the dish.”

To conclude , the EAST framework offers a method of changing behavior by making the behavior Easy, Attractive, Social and Timely. Each characteristic can be used independently when implementing policy or other programs to change behavior, or can be used in conjunction with one another. However, it is worth noting that the EAST framework is not often used on its own to change behavior. It should be used in combination with other strategies that require deeper research about the behavior and its target audience.