AFAS held its CEO Forum 2024 on 30th January 2024 at the Singapore Recreation Club where it was well-attended by Firm Members’ CEOs and various C-suite management staff respectively.

Besides successfully passing our resolution on a change of auditors for the association, we were encouraged by the positive results shared by Ms. Eunice Chua, CEO of the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC). In her presentation on Building Trust, Eunice touched on how opportunities to regain trust led to more loyalty among clients, and how FIDReC could work hand-in-hand with Financial Institutions to achieve this. She also shared on how the financial industry had fared over the recent years in terms of its disputes statistics, with special mention regarding the financial advisory firms’ low trend and encouraging results.

Mr. Augustine Lee, Immediate Past President of AFA(S) further shared with members on the Basic Financial Planning Guide to be launched on 31 Jan 2024 by MAS in collaboration with various associations. In this launch, financial guidelines were provided for 6 archetypes and life-stages, to be incorporated by Financial Institutions in their advice to clients.

Mr. Vincent Ee, Council Member of AFA(S) brought our attention to the Intermediary Culture and Conduct (ICC) consultation paper to remind us that with the 1-year trial concluding soon, Financial Advisory Firms would have to implement the process from Jun 2024 onwards.

Lastly, Mr. Salim M Amin, Vice President of AFA(S) reiterated to members the importance of banding together to harness technology to aid the sales process. In this respect, he shared on the AFA(S)’ Policy Submission Gateway (PSG) which links multiple insurers to a single platform for a seamless end-to-end advisory process. He encouraged members to consider signing up for and using the solution.

In all, the CEO Forum was a great success, and we thank the planning committee and all member firms and guests who attended. We trust that member firms have benefited much from the valuable updates and insights shared, as the Association strives to continue serving the interests of its members.