wmafendi.com

It’s 16th July 2010 already! Time flies very fast. I just attended July CEO Road Show for Central held at Sunway Convention Centre. As usual, the company given some updates, motivation sessions and throw challenges. I’m very excited with all it. The quite best thing, for the first time, I listened sharing session given by Prof. Madya Izzi that I always listen on HotFM radio. He has his own style. Cool.

And I will have tight schedule starting next week. One week going to outstation for booth promotion and another week got booth too but in Klang Valley.

During working, I allocate my time to listen for tazkirah. Now, takzirah that I attended already talking about Ramadhan besides Isra’ and Mikraj. I listen to it for my reminders. As human being, I always forget.

Keep move forward!

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

Both Malaysian and international brands received accolades of consumers in Reader’s Digest’s annual survey, which honours the very best brands in the country and in Asia, at an award ceremony last night in KL. Guest of honour at the ceremony was Y.B. Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism.

“The true benchmark of success for a brand is the extent to which it wins and holds the trust of consumers, regardless of economic conditions,” says Gwen Loong, Group Advertising Director for Reader’s Digest Asia. “Winning a Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands Award is the ultimate seal of consumer approval. These winning brands are the first choices of consumers – they have proven their trustworthiness and their commitment to quality, value, innovation, social responsibility and to answering consumers’ everyday needs.”

“Because its results are based entirely on consumer voting, the Trusted Brands survey enjoys unparalleled respect,” notes Loong. “This thoroughly objective methodology means our results are accepted and trusted by consumers across Asia.”

“Made in Malaysia” brands enjoy considerable favour among consumers, with home-grown brands named winners in 23 Trusted Brand categories – more than half of the survey.

In the finance sector, Maybank and Public took the top spots as most trusted banks, while Citibank and Maybank were voted top credit card issuing banks, and Bank Islam won sole honours in the Islamic financial services category.

Public Mutual is the most trusted investment fund company, while AIA, Great Eastern and Prudential are consumers’ top choices for insurance protection.

To stay in touch, consumers trust Maxis as their phone service provider, and Streamyx as their internet service provider.

When they’re ready to go places, consumers prefer Malaysia Airlines as their most trusted airline, and Genting Highlands and Langkawi as top family tourist attractions.

On the road, consumers prefer Honda, Proton, and Toyota as their brand of car. They prefer to equip their cars with Dunlop, Goodyear and Michelin tyres, and to fill them up at Petronas and Shell petrol stations.

Airfreight/courier services DHL, FedEx, and PosLaju are trusted to get important documents to their destinations.

Sime Darby Property was named sole winner in the highly competitive property developer category.

Among universities, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and Universiti Teknologi MARA tied for top-of-the-class position.

Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia won as the most trusted government department/agency, while Hospital Kuala Lumpur was named top hospital.

When they look for a meal out, consumers head to family restaurants KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut.

When it comes to decorating their homes, consumers trust paint from ICI Dulux and Nippon Paint, and floor and wall tiles from White Horse.

To give them a good night’s sleep, Dreamland and Dunlopillo are the mattress brands consumers trust, while consumers opt for Panasonic and York air conditioners to keep them refreshed.

Canon, Nikon and Sony are the most trusted brands in cameras, while Panasonic, Samsung and Sony took top honours for their flatscreen TVs.

Acer, Dell, and HP are consumers’ most trusted choices for their personal computer needs, while Canon and HP attracted the most votes among multi-function printer/copier brands.

When shopping for all these, consumers prefer to visit Senheng electrical appliance stores more than any other.

To put their thoughts on paper, consumers trust Kilometrico, Parker and Pilot more than any other brands of pen.

Consumers trust Kikilala and Kiko to provide the best children’s fashions.

Triumph was named sole winner in the lingerie category, while Calvin Klein, Dior, Estee Lauder and Hugo Boss tied for top spot among perfumes.

In the kitchen, Panasonic is the most trusted brand of refrigerator. Amway, Diamond, Elken and Panasonic are trusted for their water purifier products.

Buruh, Knife and Seri Murni were named trusted cooking oils, while among seasoning products, honours went to Adabi, Ajinomoto and Maggi. The top rice brands are Jasmine and Jati.

Yeo’s, Dutch Lady and Nestle make the most trusted packet drinks, while Dutch Lady is the most trusted milk brand.

Carlsberg was named sole winner in the beer category.

Dynamo, Fab, and Top are Malaysians’ most trusted choices among laundry detergents.

Among vitamin/health supplement brands, consumers trust Amway Nutrilite more than any other.

L’Oreal took sole honours in the hair colour category.

The Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands research study in its 12th year is based on responses to 350,000 questionnaires distributed via Reader’s Digest copies as well as 125,000 telephone interviews of randomly selected, upscale consumers conducted in October 2009. All survey work is carried out for Reader’s Digest by Synovate.

Plase go to the website to see more information!

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And this is ads that you have seen on TV

LONDON: Some of Prudential’s largest investors will demand a shakeup of the company’s leadership over its handling of a botched US$35.5bil bid to take over AIG’s Asian unit, British media reported yesterday.

Fidelity, Legal & General Investment Management and Schroders will hold talks with either Harvey McGrath, the insurer’s chairman, or James Ross, senior independent director on the company’s board, Sky News said on its website.

The investors, angered by the £450mil (US$652.9mil) costs racked up by the failed deal, are set to call for an immediate recruitment process to find a replacement for chief executive Tidjane Thiam, according to Sky News.

Harvey McGrath – AFP

In a separate report, the Financial Times said members of the National Association of Pension Funds planned to meet Prudential on June 22 to discuss whether boardroom changes would be necessary.

Thiam sought to soothe investor anger at the UK-based company’s annual general meeting in London on Monday, apologising for the misadventure’s huge costs and deflecting criticism over what one investor said was a “strategic foul-up of momentous proportions.”

The Times newspaper said investors canvassed by the paper on Tuesday remained critical of the current management, but were now moving towards a push to oust McGrath over Thiam.

The investors also thought Thiam and other top executives at the Pru should waive their annual bonuses if they were to avoid further shareholder backlashes, according to the Times.

“It would be the right thing to do. They need to share some of the pain with shareholders,” the paper reported an unnamed investor as saying.

Prudential could not immediately be reached for comment. — Reuters

LONDON: British insurer Prudential’s top bosses sought to ease shareholder anger over its botched bid for US group AIG’s Asian unit, publishing bumper sales and apologising for the misadventure’s hefty cost.

But Prudential defended the US$35.5bil offer for American International Assurance, which would have made it Asia’s largest foreign-owned insurer.

“We remain convinced we were right to pursue this business opportunity. We feel it was a risk in proportion to the advantage we would have gained,” chairman Harvey McGrath told several hundred shareholders gathered in London yesterday.

Prudential was facing many of its investors for the first time since the Asian takeover bid was pulled last week after a tortuous process that cost £450mil (US$650mil).

“We believe that however regrettable, it was right to pull out. Please believe…how sorry we are that we incurred costs, only to see the deal fall at the final hurdle,” McGrath said.

Earlier, the insurer published a 28% jump in sales during April and May, ahead of 26% growth reported in the first quarter – numbers it said demonstrated the business remained on track despite the Asian distraction.

The group said its strategy remained unchanged. — Reuters

Source: The Star

Players investing substantially to beef up the channel

PETALING JAYA: Promoting takaful via agency is fast gaining prominence with more players now investing significantly to beef up their agency channel and grab a larger slice of the competitive takaful market.

This mode of distribution, according to an industry player, had become more significant in view of the “Takaful For All” approach adopted by newer takaful entrants whereby takaful could be sold or promoted by anyone regardless of faith and religious beliefs.

“The success of the newer takaful operators, especially those who started operations in 2006-2007, using agency as their primary channel has prompted other earlier operators to review their distribution strategies and many of them have adopted the agency channel as their main channel and ‘Takaful For All’ approach as their new direction.

The earlier operators were mainly using direct marketing to promote their products and services,” he told Starbiz.

Azim Mithani says agency-based distribution has been fast gaining ground

He said agency allowed players to reach a bigger customer base at lower management expenses. The commissions (wakalah fee) paid to agents at the same time were also factored in the pricing of the takaful products, the observer opined.

Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd (PruBSN) CEO Azim Mithani said historically, bancatakaful was the main distribution channel for takaful business, however, in recent years, agency-based distribution had been fast gaining ground.

This, he said, was evident from the latest trend with many operators starting to develop their own agency distribution channel.

According to Bank Negara statistics, there were some 55,000 takaful agents last year selling family takaful products compared with about 11,000 agents in 2006 and this figure was expected to continue to grow in the coming years.

Azim added that the agency distribution would further enhanced the penetration rate of takaful in the local market as it allowed takaful operators to access a wider segment of the population and enjoy economies of scale.

He said significant investment was required to establish an agency channel, which involved recruitment and training of agents as well as maintaining the infrastructure.

He said it was vital to ensure that agents were properly equipped and trained to provide the necessary advice. In this regard, Azim said it was paramount that appropriate compliance and risk management standards be put in place.

For this purpose, he said PruBSN had established a dedicated training academy to provide comprehensive training to agents as well as rigorous compliance monitoring processes.

PruBSN currently has about 1,400 tied agents and expects to grow this channel significantly this year.

He added that the company also leveraged on its sister company Prudential Assurance Malaysia Bhd’s agency force, which has 8,000 agents licensed to distribute PruBSN’s products.

MAA Takaful Bhd CEO Salim Majid Zain said in terms of quality of advice to policyholders, service and need-based risk management, the agency model was the more sustainable channel in the long term, especially for regular premium protection products. Agency was currently the dominant distribution channel for MAA Takaful and the company foresees its importance increasing over time.

Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd (STMB) regional chief retail officer Wan Azman Wan Mamat said it was looking at establishing its very own business training institution to provide quality and professional training courses to the agency force.

This enabled agents to be equipped with the right skills and knowledge to enter untapped market, he said.

In addition, Wan Azman said the company would develop activities to promote positive culture among the agents such as awards recognition events, leadership development club and regular agency meetings.

STMB started its retail agency structure in March this year and to date has 25 agency leaders with over 400 agents. It plans to grow its agency force to 2,000 by year-end.

Bancatakaful, according to Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd CEO Datuk Syed Moheeb Syed Kamarulzaman, will continue to play an important role in the distribution of takaful as it provides economies of scale, whereas agents are seen as a way of penetrating the non-Muslim customer market.

In addition, he added, agents were also able to expand both family and general takaful product lines. To date, he said Takaful Ikhlas had more than 5,000 family agents and more than 1,000 general agents.

“We are always on the lookout for more corporate and individual agents. Agents are and will continue to remain the dominant channel for the company,” Syed Moheeb noted.

The move paves way for potential listing of AIA

HONG KONG: British insurer Prudential plc is withdrawing from a US$35.5bil deal to buy American International Group Inc’s Asian life insurance business, American International Assurance Ltd (AIA), paving the way for a potential listing of AIA.

The widely expected move by Prudential yesterday came after AIG knocked back a lower offer from it a day earlier, and would help the British firm avoid an embarrassing defeat at the hands of shareholders next week.

“We listened carefully to shareholders over the price and initiated a renegotiation of the terms with AIG. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to reach agreement,” Prudential chairman Harvey McGrath said in a statement. “We are therefore withdrawing from the transaction.”

Prudential’s Hong Kong-listed shares jumped as much as 7.1% to HK$68, tracking a 6.3% rise in its London-listed shares on Tuesday. But the stock was trading down 0.6% by 0400 GMT, a level at which bulk of the morning trade took place.

A failed deal, which was slated to become the biggest insurance M&A deal in history, is likely to make the position of Prudential’s management untenable and increase the call for a break-up of the British insurer, analysts and fund managers have said.

Raised lettering in the brickwork of the former Prudential Assurance building casts shadows in the City of London. — Reuters

Chief executive Tidjane Thiam, who has been in the job less than a year, had championed the AIA deal, arguing it gives the 162-year-old Prudential a rare opportunity to grab a commanding presence in Asia.

As a result of the withdrawal move, Prudential said it would not proceed with a US$21bil rights offering in London and Hong Kong designed to raise money to finance the deal.

Prudential estimated the cost of the failed AIA transaction so far at about £450mil (US$659mil), which includes a break-up fee of £152.6mil.

The British company did not say that the AIG agreement has been formally terminated but said in the statement it was “expected”.

AIG chief executive Robert Benmosche was in favour of accepting the deal on revised terms as it offered more liquidity, and sooner, one person familiar with the situation told Reuters. But the board, which met late on Monday, decided against doing so.

One important sticking point was that AIG’s board wanted assurances from Prudential that it would be able to close a revised deal, other sources familiar with the matter said.

Prudential was not able to provide the assurances the AIG board was seeking, the sources said.

The UK insurer originally offered US$35.5bil for AIA, then lowered it to US$30.4bil amid resistance from shareholders that the company was overspending.

AIG is most likely to revive the initial public offering of AIA once the deal is officially terminated. But there are doubts whether an IPO could fetch the same valuation offered by Prudential. — Reuters

BANGKOK: U.S. insurer AIG said Tuesday it won’t accept a lower offer for its Asian insurance business from Prudential, potentially scuttling the multibillion dollar deal.

London Stock Exchange-listed Prudential PLC was trying to lower the $35.5 billion price agreed for the purchase of AIA, which is the Asian insurance business of American International Group Inc.

“After careful consideration, the company will adhere to the original terms of its previously announced agreement with Prudential,” AIG said in a statement.

“The company will not consider revisions to those terms.”

The deal has faced resistance from Prudential shareholders, who believed the price was too high.

Prudential needs to line up support from holders of 75 percent of its shares by June 7.

If the AIA deal falls through, Prudential will owe AIG a termination fee of $230.6 million

Opponents of the deal have formed a Prudential Action Group, which is seeking to muster support for a vote of no confidence in the Prudential’s chief executive Tidjane Thiam.

The group claims that at least 15 percent of shareholders intend to vote against the deal.

AIG, which received more than $180 billion in aid from the U.S. government during the financial crisis, hoped to raise a total $51 billion from the Prudential deal and the sale of its American Life Insurance Co. division to MetLife Inc. – AP