A fund distributor has officially closed its doors in Hong Kong. What has this got to do with us who are here in Singapore? Well, the same thing could jolly well happen here as well.

Sources claim that the closure was due to the change in the preference of investment platforms [...]

In what is believed to be the first of its kind in Singapore, an Indonesian businessman is claiming that his ex-AIA agent has sold him fake  insurance policies costing US$5m. This was report in the 10th October 2010 edition of The Sunday Times (US$5m insurance scam).

According to the [...]

Facing the problem of dwindling agent force, a major insurer has rolled out its own version of red carpet in a bid to stop the agent exodus and even recruit agents from other companies. This follows a previous article that highlighted this issue of agents jumping ship. According to The Straits [...]

The good times are back! And it has spread to the life industry; in the form of firms dangling top dollars to lure top performers. The Straits Times article – Windfall for jumping ship, published on 10th July 2010 highlighted this phenomenon.

According to the article, “total compensation package could range from [...]

If you have been approached by an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) before, you would probably been told that IFAs can offer products from many providers and put client’s interest first. There is a fact and an opinion in the statement. The fact is that IFAs does have access to many different products from [...]

A 90 year old went to the bank to renew her fixed deposit. Upon seeing her savings, the bank tries to sell her a 10 year structured deposit.

The lady did not take up the offer and went home to consult her family.

There has been push for the Mass Affluent and High-Networth-Individuals (HNWI) market by many financial institutions. This is a logically move looking from the business volume and margin angle. However, this trend does not necessarily benefit the mass affluent or the HNWIs.

When it comes to the mass market, 1 or [...]

Simon (not his real name), wanted to invest USD2 million. Seeing that the market is volatile, Keith (not his real name), Simon’s private banker from bank B, suggested a Regular Savings Plan (RSP) to ride out the volatility. The RSP time frame is 3 years. So USD1.8m went into a USD50,000 per month [...]

The ongoing legal tussle between tycoon Oei Hong Leong and Citibank was reported in the Prime News section in today’s edition of The Straits Times. Such lawsuits have been reported in the past and more such lawsuits can be expected after the market meltdown, according to The Straits Times.

From our conversations [...]

“The superior man understands what is right;
The inferior man understands what will sell.”
Confucius

People in sales generally don’t command a high social status. Many will refer to them as “salesman”. The popular perception is that they will resort to all sorts of things so as to clinch the deal. Reason behind such behavior is [...]