The Work From Home (WFH) era has given rise to conditions highly conducive for pre-existing privacy security vulnerabilities to emerge, as well as the breeding of new ones. As Financial Advisers, negligence with sensitive client information places oneself at risk of a data breach, jeopardising the trust of your clients.
Together with Straits Interactive, AFAS has organised this talk where we hone in on the data privacy risks of WFH and how to mitigate them.
Due to Covid-19 where the mass gathering of people is prohibited, AFAS held its first Virtual CEO Forum for the Year 2020.
We had an overwhelming response from POs of our Firm Members when we met each other on-screen via the Zoom Platform.
Angie greeted everyone with a warm welcome and acknowledged our new Firm members, Avrio, Legacy, Unicorn and Linc has joined the AFAS family.
President J Para shared on the impact and challenges the industry is facing during Covid-19 such as the (1) Rules on meeting clients due to social distancing, (2) Remote engagement with clients due to Work From Home (WFH) implementation and (3) Lack of support and tools for WFH.
AFAS President strongly felt that many members had taken the challenges in their stride and had been able to work with the new demands, though all are fully aware of the pressure on revenue. He also highlighted the increasing phishing that has happened to be a threat to the industry and urged all to be more vigilant.
Next, we had Mr Salim to share on the progress on the Policy Submission Gateway (PSG) Project which has been in the preparation stage for the last one year, and he is confident that it will go online by next year.
Mr Vincent Ee gave a more in-depth sharing and understanding on MU76, highlighting some issues in the volume-based incentive offered to Financial Advisers.
This year we had invited IBF to join us at the Forum to introduce IBF’s integrated approach to skills development and jobs for the financial industry. This involved Training for upskilling, Recruitment for hiring and Workforce Transformation for career advisory, reskilling, and engagement. The introduction of the Skills Framework for the Financial Industry is a collaboration between MAS, SkillsFuture Sg, WorkForce Sg and IBF.
IBF reminded that Financial Institutions could seek IBF accreditation for its in-house programmes or send their staff to IBF accredited external programmes.
In closing, our President believes with Covid-19 still lingering on; we are unlikely to return to the old normal and urged everyone to embrace the new normal with confidence.
Lastly, he thanked Angie for making the Forum a success, and he looks forward to more virtual engagement with the Members soon.
As an industry, it is important we stay resilient and future-ready to add value to our clients. AFA(S) organised a webinar with Income to share on how to build knowledge and sharpen our digital customer engagement and skill sets.
In partnership with AVIVA Singapore, this webinar is presented by Nishit Majmudar, Deputy President, LIA, CEO Singapore. Some of the topics covered include how the Participating Fund has been affected by COVID-19 and how does the new regulation, RBC2, affect the Participating Fund?
AFA organised the annual CEO Forum on 15 October 2019 at The Singapore Recreation Club. It was well attended with 29 CEOs of LFA firms.
Master of Ceremony, Mr. Salim M Amin thanked all attendees for taking their precision time by being present at the forum.
AFA President, Mr. J. Para gave his opening speech and shared that the LFA channel performed well, taking 22% of the market share in sales production in the first half of 2019. Mr. Para also noted that AFA have arranged for Rep members to have a cost effective professional indemnity insurance. He concluded his speech by encouraging members to allay any concerns that they have during the forum. This will allow AFA to discuss these issues with the authority.
Project leader for PSG updated the floor by explaining the purpose of having a digitize submission of policies to the insurers by using one platform. It is now in the final stage of negotiation with MAS for funding approval. Five insurers have indicated that they are keen to work with AFA on this project.
Great American Insurance Company was invited to present their claims philosophy focusing on the procedures and claim experience. This was well received by the audience.
Mr. Vincent Teo from Fullerton Heath Group presented in the Silver Care Program for our members who are above 50 years old for low cost medical program.
Finally, the floor was open to members who wish to bring up any issues and challenges they face in their practice. Some topics that were brought up were:
The forum concluded with our President thanking everyone for attending and contributing to the success of Forum.
Synopsis by Dr. Ben Fok
