APLIC: Prepare to manage disruptive forces
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Jul 2017
Asia Malaysia Life & Health Agents/Advisors
Life insurers have to prepare themselves to manage disruptive forces that are bombarding their businesses today, said Mr Gan Leong Hin, management committee member of the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) in his keynote address at the 16th Asia Pacific Life Insurance Congress (APLIC) that was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in May.
Continuous learning is crucial to stay relevant and to avoid becoming obsolete as customers, demographics, regulations, technology are all changing the business landscape, said Mr James Bong, National Association of Life Insurance and Family Takaful Advisors (NAMLIFA)’s president.
Turning to the Malaysian life market, Mr Gan said it is undergoing a transformation process to implement various key initiatives that aim to promote product innovations, diversification of distribution channels, greater transparency and to protect consumers. The overall mission is to fulfil Malaysia’s aspiration of reducing the protection gaps and to insure at least 75% of the populations by 2020.
He shared that in order to increase the productivity and professionalism of intermediaries in Malaysia, LIAM has taken various initiatives such as the introduction of Balance Scorecard which contains a set of performance indicators to evaluate the performance, quality and service level provided by agents. A Public Enquiry facility via online and SMS has also been made available for customers to ascertain whether the individuals they are dealing with are registered agents of LIAM.
Organised by NAMLIFA and co-hosted by the Asia Pacific Financial Services Association (APFinSA), the APLIC congress, with the theme “Together As One, had more than 5,000 life insurance practitioners from 13 countries across the Asia Pacific region attending the event. A