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Syukur( Thanks to God) all settled for June. For now on Friday, I have settled submitting all proposals required for qualify for this month challenge; CEO’s Anniverary Challenge 2010 that let’s me grab GPS Garmin Nuvi.

Starting yesterday, I put my mind and body for rest for a while or so. Really, I need rest . My body feels so tired during the hectic times. That time, it’s just my mind pulls my body to work on and fight until the end to qualify for the challenge.

Whatever the result, I have to accept and syukur! Tonite, I have agency meeting and tomorrow I have Retreat event. There are big event since it’s half year already. I have to look back what happen in last six months and thinking and take action to improve and speed up my business and my production.

With Allah bless, I hope all thing goes well. Amin.

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

LAST week, a report from World Bank warned of the re-emergence of inflationary pressures in Asian economies that could complicate the region’s prevailing policy stances to support growth.

Consumer prices have been on the rise in the region’s economies since the beginning of the year, as economic activity starts picking up across the region. For instance, in the two largest Asian economies – China and India – inflation have already accelerated over the last two months.

In China, consumer price index in May rose 3.1% from a year earlier, compared with April’s 2.8% rate, while property prices rose 12.4% from a year earlier.

This has prompted World Bank to urge China to raise interest rates to curb the country’s rising inflationary pressure and soaring property prices.

In India, on the other hand, inflation hit a two-year high last month, with wholesale price index rising 10.16% from a year earlier, compared with the 9.59% rate in April, as higher food and fuel prices continued to drive overall costs up.

Local key government officers over the week said India’s inflation rate had reached “very uncomfortable” levels and that the central bank had to step in to curb the pressure.

Singapore’s consumer prices jumped 3.2% in April, and are expected to rise around 2.7% in May, while Indonesia’s inflation rate has already exceeded the 4% mark since last month.

In Malaysia, the numbers have yet to show any worrying sign, as the country’s inflation rate seems to be well on target.

Figures from the Department of Statistics show that consumer price index (CPI) for May rose at a tame rate of 1.6% from a year ago, almost matching the April’s rise of 1.5%.

Food prices remained the major contributor to the country’s inflationary pressure, rising 2.5% compared with 2.2% in the preceding month.

Most economists expect consumer prices in Malaysia to move higher in the second half of the year, albeit moderately, as the low-base effects fade and as domestic demand continues to strengthen on improved economic prospects.

No doubt, with subsidy rationalisation plan on the cards, inflationary pressures could accelerate further in the future. But with the Government reiterating its position of not rushing in to implement changes to the subsidy scheme, economists say the inflationary pressures in the country could still be kept at a restrained level for the rest of this year.

That is not to deny the fact that consumers will still be challenged by the rising cost of living in the country.

Malaysia’s CPI is based on a basket of goods and services, ranging from food and beverage, utilities and fuel, clothing and footwear to transport and communications. This means the actual prices paid by consumers for certain type of goods or services are actually much higher than that indicated by the CPI.

A customer shops at a wet market in Klang. Most economists expect consumer prices to move higher in the second half of the year. – AP

As it is, inflation expectations in the country are already building up. Such expectations tend to result in employees demanding for higher wages and businesses to potentially raise prices further to protect their margins.

In an annual survey conducted by international recruitment and human resource services agency Randstad, it was found that around 47% of Malaysian employees are expecting a pay rise of 5% to 10% this year.

On the other hand, the average salary increases this year, based on a survey by the human-resource specialist Kelly Services, is expected to range from only 4% to 5%.

“Many businesses are already struggling to cope with the rising cost of production that’s eating into their profit margins,” an economist with a local investment bank explains.

For instance, figures from the Department of Statistics showed that producer price index had remained on the up trend for the sixth straight month in May, as higher prices of domestic inputs continued to exert pressure on production costs.

“Eventually, businesses will have to pass on their higher costs to consumers – which would translate into higher prices of goods and services – to bolster their revenues and profit margins,” the economist explains.

Nevertheless, for the immediate term, the latest CPI numbers do suggest that there is less pressure for Bank Negara to raise interest rates in the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting in July.

The central bank had repeatedly indicated the importance of maintaining an accommodative interest rate regime to support the country’s economic growth.

Bank Negara has so far raised the country’s benchmark overnight policy rate (OPR) twice as part of the normalisation process this year. In fact, it became the first in the region to do so in March when it raised the OPR by 25 basis points from the record low of 2%.

Last month, Bank Negara revised the OPR again by another 25 basis points to the present level of 2.5%.

Some economists are betting on the central bank to pause its rate normalisation process for a while as a result of the mounting uncertainties arising from the 16-nation euro zone that are currently weighing on market sentiment and dampening global economic outlook.

Leading indicators seem to suggest that Malaysia’s gross domestic product growth have peaked in the first quarter of the year, after a double-digit expansion of 10.1% year-on-year.

The subsequent quarters are expected to record slower growth rates due to the waning effects of the low-base factor and economic stimulus measures as well as slower exports growth.

Source: The Star

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!

WordPress 3.0, the thirteenth major release of WordPress and the culmination of half a year of work by 218 contributors, is now available for download (or upgrade within your dashboard). Major new features in this release include a sexy new default theme called Twenty Ten. Theme developers have new APIs that allow them to easily implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus (no more file editing), post types, and taxonomies. (Twenty Ten theme shows all of that off.) Developers and network admins will appreciate the long-awaited merge of MU and WordPress, creating the new multi-site functionality which makes it possible to run one blog or ten million from the same installation. As a user, you will love the new lighter interface, the contextual help on every screen, the 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements, bulk updates so you can upgrade 15 plugins at once with a single click…see more on the video below

Please to the dev blog to see more information about thing.

I am very excited to use it!

Our latest plan, PRUmy child still hot and going on promotion!
Please visit our main website at www.prudential.com.my to see information and contest there!

And this is ads that you have seen on TV

World Cup 2010 South Africa is just started. Everyone in this planet got the fever. I like you too. I very exciting with the event too. I always can get the lastest news from web through Twitter and Soccernet.

i also looking for some widgets and plugins for latest World Cup 2010 news, scores and updates. I found quite good widget on FIFA website. I think i want to put it on my blog’s sidebar for this football season. It will showing some update on the event and I hope we all will get more excited!

Here some widgets that I get from it

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.