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KUALA LUMPUR: Prudential Fund Management Bhd has declared an income distribution of 2.83 sen per unit for its Prudential Equity Income, 2.09 sen per unit for Prudential Asia Select Income and 1.93 sen per sen for its Prudential Balanced Fund.

The income distribution for the three funds was for its financial year ended June 30. The company said in a statement yesterday that all investors who had maintained their unit holdings with the three funds as at Aug 20 will be entitled to the income distribution.

Prudential Equity Income, Prudential Asia Select Income and Prudential Balanced Fund generated income of 16.2%, 5.21% and 11.86% respectively for the one year period ended June 30.

“While the funds have performed well, we are cautiously positive for the remainder of the year and expect global markets to continue to be volatile,” said Chris Chan, chief officer, Institutional Asset Management of Prudential Fund Management. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 (Bernama) — Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd continued to deliver strong performance for the first half of this year with new business sales up 39 per cent over the same period last year.

For the first six months, the insurer’s new business APE (Annual Premium Equivalent consisting of retail Life Insurance sales and Takaful contributions) increased to RM395 million from RM284 million recorded in the same period last year.

“We have maintained our excellent momentum since the start of the year and delivered consistent, positive double-digit growths for the past two quarters,” said Chief Executive Officer Charlie Oropeza in a statement today.

The robust sales were maintained both in the first and second quarter, recording a 55 per cent and 26 per cent growth respectively.

– BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara has given the nod for Prudential Holdings Ltd to begin talks to buy a stake in insurer Pacific & Orient, according to a source with direct knowledge of the deal.

Prudential Holdings, a subsidiary of Prudential PLC, is the latest foreign insurer keen to enter Malaysia’s growing insurance market.

“Pacific & Orient received the approval by fax yesterday (Wednesday) morning, but there have been no discussions about a price yet,” the source said, asking not to be identified as the approval had not been made public.

Pacific & Orient declined to comment while Prudential’s Malaysian officials were not immediately available.

Pacific & Orient had said earlier this month that it asked Bank Negara for approval to begin preliminary talks for the potential divestment of an equity interest in Pacific & Orient to Prudential.

The news follows Malaysia’s Hong Leong Financial Group announcement in June that it would merge its non-life insurance business with Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co and sell a stake in its life business in deals worth about US$480mil.

Analysts had said Prudential might be changing its approach to penetrating the Asian market after its failed bid for AIG’s Asian unit.

Prudential now holds a composite licence in Malaysia that covers both the life and general insurance businesses. – Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — Two Malaysians and a Singaporean were charged in the Singapore and Brunei courts for operating fraudulent trading and illegal deposit-taking, said Bank Negara Malaysia.

On July 30, a District Court in Singapore sentenced Singaporean Phang Wah and Malaysian Jackie Hoo Choon Cheat, both of Sunshine Empire, to nine years and seven years’ jail, respectively, for running a fraudulent investment scheme.

They were convicted for fraudulent trading under Section 340 of the Singapore Companies Act and Criminal Breach of Trust under Section 409 of the Singapore Penal Code, the central bank said in a statement today.

On June 3, Sunshine Empire was fined RM2 million after it pleaded guilty at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court to two charges under Section 25(1) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 for accepting deposits from the public without a valid licence.

In another case, a Malaysian, Hasri Mohd Noor, who is a director of Business Time Dina Sdn Bhd, a company related to Pan Phoenix Dina Sdn Bhd, was sentenced to six years’ jail by the Brunei High Court on Aug 7 for illegal deposit-taking under Section 93 (1) of the Banking Order 2006.

Hasri is currently being prosecuted in Malaysia for possible offences under Section 25(1) of the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 and under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.

Bank Negara reminded the people not to place any money or deposits with unlicensed institutions or be involved in any form of get-rich-quick schemes to avoid losing their hard-earned money.

It said the list of licensed institutions administered by the central bank to accept deposits was available on its website at www.bnm.gov.my.

It said the people could also access information on illegal financial schemes and enforcement actions taken by the central bank by logging on to the Financial Fraud Alert Site, http://fraudalert.bnm.gov.my.

For further enquiries and information, the public can contact Bank Negara Malaysia at 1-300-88-5465. — Bernama

PETALING JAYA: Prudential UK is believed to have submitted an application to Bank Negara to commence talks on the potential acquisition of local general insurance company, Pacific & Orient Bhd (P&O).

However, the details of the potential merger and acquisition (M&A) exercise between the two parties were still unclear.

This has added fuel to recent market talk that P&O had emerged on the radar of potential buyers.

According to Kenanga Research, the owner was contemplating a divestment in P&O in a deal that could reap proceeds that were well above P&O’s implied stock market valuations.

Chan Thye Seng, the managing director and chief executive officer of P&O, holds a 51.4% stake in the company.

When contacted, P&O declined to comment on the matter.

When contacted, a spokesperson from Prudential Malaysia said it did not comment on market speculation.

“Having undergone a massive change in business direction over the last two years, P&O has engineered a major turnaround in profitability,” said Kenanga in a recent report.

P&O returned to the black in the previous financial year ended Sept 30, 2009, with a net profit of RM14.9mil compared with a net loss of RM32.6mil the year before.

But, for the first six months of the current financial year, P&O slipped back into the red with a net loss of RM1.4mil compared with a net loss of RM6.1mil in the previous corresponding period.

As at March 30, 2010, its net asset per share was RM1.34.

P&O’s main focus is on two core areas – financial services and information technology (IT).

“Consistent with this strategy, the group has branched out to build and develop businesses that support and contribute to the growth of these core areas, especially IT.

“In terms of its 30 years in general insurance, its businesses have achieved good organic growth as the company cultivates deep relationships with customers, agents and motorcycle shop owners.

“P&O Insurance has made significant progress in the last two years by restructuring its business focus,” the research house said.

Going forward, Kenanga expects P&O to record a premium growth of 20% and 15% in the current and next financial years.

Bank Negara liberalised the insurance sector in April last year in its effort to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of the insurance and takaful industries.

Foreign equity participation in insurance companies and takaful operators has increased up to 70%.

However, a higher foreign equity limit would be considered on a case-by-case basis for players who can facilitate the consolidation and rationalisation of the insurance industry.

To date, post-liberalisation, two listed companies with general insurance business, namely Jerneh Asia Bhd and PacificMas Bhd, had been given the nod by Bank Negara to commence negotiations on the potential disposal of their respective insurance units.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan akan menyiarkan di akhbar 10 ciri perniagaan skim piramid yang tidak mengikut peraturan, bagi mengelakkan masyarakat terus tertipu.

Menterinya, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, berkata masih ramai rakyat di negara ini yang terpedaya dengan skim tersebut, walaupun kerajaan telah menasihatkan mereka supaya sentiasa berhati-hati ketika membuat pelaburan KUALA LUMPUR: Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan akan menyiarkan di akhbar 10 ciri perniagaan skim piramid yang tidak mengikut peraturan, bagi mengelakkan masyarakat terus tertipu.

“Saya berharap orang ramai dan pelbagai pihak perlu melindungi diri sendiri dan tidak tertipu dengan skim ini, yang dari awalnya berniat menipu peserta,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan bangunan baru Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia di Kuala Lumpur Sentral di sini hari ini.

Beliau mengulas laporan akhbar mengenai kejayaan polis membongkar kegiatan satu sindiket penipuan skim cepat kaya selepas menahan 59 orang dan merampas 18 kereta mewah dalam satu serbuan di Petaling Jaya.

Ismail Sabri berkata, kerajaan memandang serius terhadap skim itu dan melakukan pemantauan berterusan, selain mengambil tindakan tegas terhadap pengusaha skim itu.

Katanya, selain berdepan tindakan digantung atau dibatalkan lesen serta didenda, mereka juga akan dihadapkan ke mahkamah jika ramai yang tertipu dengan skim itu.
Beliau berkata, penguatkuasaan Akta Jualan Langsung (Pindaan 2010) akan menggalakkan pertumbuhan serta perkembangan aktiviti jualan langsung beretika, selain melarang segala kegiatan berbentuk Skim Piramid dan Skim Cepat Kaya bagi melindungi hak dan kepentingan pengguna. – BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara is seeking to arrest five individuals who are suspected of operating get-rich-quick schemes.

The five individuals are Dahlan David bin Abdullah, Ramunatul Aida binti Rahmat, Abd Halim bin Rafii, Abdul Halim bin Che Ismail and Harun bin Mat Saat. They are all believed to have commited crimes involved in illegal deposit taking and money laundering.

“They are operators of illegal schemes. They held positions of director in their respective companies. We believe they are all still in the country,” said a source who is investigating the case.

Illegal deposit taking falls under the Banking and Financial Institutions Act 1989 while money laundering falls under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001.

Dahlan David and Ramunatul were respectively chief executive officer and director of Jazmeen (M) Sdn Bhd.

In a 2007 note to investors, Dahlan said “… Jazmeen is a platform and avenue for people to invest, save and earn a profitable monthly return, as we are growing by the numbers. My goal is to turn Jazmeen into an international business conglomerate”

Abdul Halim bin Che Ismail was a director in Silver Coin Resources Sdn Bhd while Abd Halim bin Rafii was in Syarikat Eastana Farm Industries Sdn Bhd. Lastly, Harun was in Pan Phoenix Dina Sdn Bhd.

Bank Negara is offering rewards to members of the public for information that leads to the successful arrest of these individuals. In March, a task force, helmed by Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, was formed with Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) chief executive officer Datuk Azmi Ariffin.

Azmi also presides on the working committee that consists of other regulators such as Bank Negara, police, the Securities Commission of Malaysia and the Cooperative Commission of Malaysia.

Last month, the task force obtained a conviction against Grand Merger Resources Enterprise for illegal cash transaction under the Kootu Fund (Prohibition) Act. The other cases, relating to illegal interest schemes against Island Red Cafe and Golden Nest Sdn Bhd under Section 84 of the Companies Act, are pending trial in court.

In May, Bank Negara started investigating The Gold Label Sdn Bhd for suspected illegal deposit-taking and money laundering activities.

The central bank raided the company’s premises in Northpoint Offices, Tower A Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur yesterday, following complaints received from the public.

Relevant assets and documents were seized for purpose of investigation. A global economic crime survey in 2009 found that nearly half of the financial crimes were committed by middle managers as a result of the economic downturn which had affected many organisations.

Source: The Star Online

PETALING JAYA: Insurers are cautiously optimistic the second half of 2010 will be better than the first amid the stable economic environment despite volatility in the global markets.

Manulife Holdings Bhd group chief executive officer Michael Chan said the company was cautiously optimistic of a better second half due to improved market sentiment and higher consumer confidence.

“For consumers who follow market trends, the improved environment means that they will start looking again at insurance needs and long-term savings. Insurance will continue to be a key component in financial planning regardless of the economic environment and this means it will continue to generate new sales in the second half of the year,” he told StarBiz.

Apart from continued stability in the economic environment, Chan added that another growth driver would be new product launches that met consumers’ needs and were relevant to the current times.

While basic insurance planning remained largely unchanged, he said the features and benefits of insurance plans must be aligned with the constantly changing consumer demands.

For the industry to grow, he said it needed better trained and professional insurance advisers and continually develop distributors to be knowledgeable, well-informed and focused on providing quality service to customers.

General insurer ACE Synergy Insurance Bhd (ACE Malaysia) CEO and managing director Raj Nanra said that despite the record-breaking economic growth of 10.1% in the first half of the year, the outlook for the industry would not change drastically as consumers were taking the “wait and see” approach and remained cautious in their spending.

Personal lines and retail insurance for individuals would still present a challenge in the next half of the year, Nanra noted.

The Government’s support for the private sector and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the 10th Malaysia Plan and the liberalisation of the financial sector would help spur the growth of the industry.

“SMEs make up 99% of Malaysia’s total registered business and the development of this sector will support the growth of the insurance industry, especially in commercial risk insurance.

“Coupled with the demand for insurance needs from major corporations, which view insurance as a key risk management tool, the market will very likely see a rise in interest from the commercial, property, casualty and liability sectors,” Nanra added.

According to Chan, Bank Negara’s move to increase interest rates can impede insurance sales in the second half due to perceived low returns from insurance products compared with bank rates, apart from possible recurrence of global financial instability.

Investment-linked products and plans that guarantee a minimum return higher than bank fixed deposit rates and capital-guaranteed types of plans were expected to spur the growth of insurance products, he said.

Some of the challenges that would hinder the industry’s growth would be the global economic scenario as well as the shortage of skilled staff in areas such as actuarial, agency management and product development.

According to Nanra, the industry continues to experience soft market conditions as competition intensifies in the marketplace.

“Consumers’ ‘wait and see’ approach will be a challenge to the industry and market liberalisation will result in fewer but bigger players in the market and more professionalism,” he noted.

On the trends moving forward, Chan said: “We foresee that there will be a bigger emphasis on the bumiputra market not only in the takaful but also in conventional insurance segment.

“With market sentiment improving, there could be a shift to more investment-linked sales as customers may prefer to enjoy the potential upside of market performance for such products.”

Thiam to apologise

LONDON: Prudential chief executive Tidjane Thiam is expected to apologise directly to shareholders when the insurer holds its annual general meeting on Monday, days after it was humiliatingly forced to pull its US$35.5bil bid for AIG’s Asian arm.

The botched bid, which racked up £450mil in adviser fees and other costs, has led investors including top 15 shareholder Schroders to call for Thiam to quit, although other Pru owners told Reuters on Friday that it would be premature to force him out.

Pru chairman Harvey McGrath, who has also faced calls to step down, said on Friday the “vast majority” of shareholders supported the company’s top management.

Thiam, who launched the takeover attempt in March after less than six months in the top job, is expected to say sorry to shareholders for incurring the bid costs and not clinching the deal, repeating an apology he first issued on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
TIDJANE THIAM: “We’ll go back to plan A, which was always about growth in Asia, and push it harder”.

“I am very sorry that we had to spend the money and didn’t get the deal,” he said in the interview.

Thiam, seen as a high flier when he took over as the Pru’s head last October, is still expected to face fierce criticism from investors at the AGM in London, in marked contrast to the rapturous reception he received when attending the same meeting as chief executive designate last year.

Some shareholders are set to vote against the Pru’s remuneration report in protest over generous pay deals handed to some executives, while others are likely to call for a review of the company’s strategy in the wake of the failed bid.

The company is also expected to repeat earlier denials that the takeover attempt implied a lack of faith in its current strategy of pursuing capital-efficient growth with a focus on Asia.

“There was nothing about the AIA acquisition which was not in our strategy,” Thiam said on Friday in an interview with CNBC.

“We’ll go back to plan A, which was always about growth in Asia, and push it harder.”

Pru’s bid for AIG’s AIA unit, which would have ranked as the insurance sector’s biggest ever takeover, was designed to transform the company into Asia’s biggest foreign insurer, giving it a commanding position in one of the world’s fastest growing financial services markets.

But the insurer was forced to ditch the bid last week after its shareholders baulked at the price tag, and AIG rejected a reduced offer.

At the weekend, Pru denied a press report that it planned to resurrect the deal before the end of the year, calling speculation of a revived takeover bid “misguided and inaccurate.” — Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd (PruBSN) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Affin Islamic Bank Bhd (Affin Islamic) to broaden its market reach for its Family Takaful products by tapping into the latters customer base.

PruBSN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Azim Mithani said the collaboration was part of the group’s strategies to strengthen its distribution capabilities in the family sector.

“Through this collaboration, Affin Islamic will have access to our innovative range of advisory-based and credit related suite of products, which will enhance their offering to customers.

“As for PruBSN, we will deepen and widen our distribution reach and ensure more Malaysians are able to access our leading products, and cement our place in the Malaysian takaful industry,” he said at a press conference after the MoU signing ceremony here.

Meanwhile, Affin Islamic CEO Kamarul Ariffin Mohd Jamil said the five-year collaboration is expected to double its bancatakaful business which contributes between 15-30 per cent.

“PruBSN has a very strong agency sales force who are highly trained and well motivated. There is a common synergy to collaborate towards promoting and cross-selling both takaful and the bank’s financing products.

“This partnership will allow Affin Islamic to tap ino PruBSN’s expertise and marketing resources to further grow its revenue as well as acquire new customers,” he said.

In the initial stage, it has been agreed that the first product to be marketed under the agreement is an education plan, called PruBSN Educate.

“PruBSN Educate is an investment-liked takaful plan that provides cash back upon the maturity plan.

“Parents who purchase this product for their children are entitled to use the contribution for tax deduction purposes.

The plan will be available at all Affin Islamic branches from August this year,” Azim said. – BERNAMA