Citing two anonymous industry sources, a Bloomberg report late August said that Friends Provident International (FPI) could be sold for up to $750m.
The speculation rose as Friends Life in July sold its Luxembourg-based Lombard International Assurance business to Blackstone. In January 2013, the company sold back its 30% stake in Malaysian AmLife Insurance.
http://international-adviser.com/news/life/fpi-could-be-sold-lombard-intl-purchased
http://international-adviser.com/news/asia/friends-life-sells-30-malaysia-insurer-stake-back
When queried on the Goldman Sachs report, Tan said: “We do not comment on market speculations. I think these reports are possibly coming on the back of 30% stake sale in Am Life and as we sold off our sister company Lombard.”
“So, potentially that’s where the speculation is coming off and especially since Friends Life is more known as dividend-cash stock, so that’s the speculation there. But, as far as we are concerned, its business as usual,” Tan said.
“My view is regardless of what happens, we will continue to do business as usual. From my perspective, we are there to support customers and distributors. Our commitment to the region continues to be there.”
Friends Life continues to have its earlier plans of launching retirement propositions in Hong Kong and Singapore as was mentioned by Tan in May. But, it will evaluate the regulatory scenario before taking any initiative.
“It is still in the plan. I think the urgent matters for us now at the moment for both Singapore and Hong Kong is to adjust with the regulations. These regulations will have some limitations on products too and we will take that into consideration as we plan our future retirement products,” Tan said.
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Indemnity Commission Ban Impact
Tan foresees the recent indemnity commission ban announced in Hong Kong to have a short-term impact on the industry, but believes it is positive in the long-term and in line with regulations in the other regions.
“The new guidance note is designed around having more transparency for the clients and to ensure client get right products to meet their needs.”
“With these new guidelines, there are some adjustments that we need to make. We are working very closely with the brokers and distributors on the impact on the business side. We also have lots of conversations with our competitors as well just to make sure we align with respect to our approach.”
Sale of Investment-linked assurance schemes took a ‘significant hit’ since commission disclosure norms by financial advisers were enforced last year. This is likely to have a further adverse impact with the new indemnity commission ban norms that will come into force next year.
“The distributors and manufacturers are adjusting to those changes. More importantly from the sales perspective, clients would also have to adjust to the process. There are quite a number of various required information and forms. Advisers may have to go through those different key elements of product, risk assessment and risk analysis. But, it is an adjustment process.”
The company has plans to soon hire a tax and technical expert to be based in Singapore.
Brendan Harper, technical services manager said: “One of the reasons why we are doing this is we see that as a key differentiator in the service that we offer in the market. There is also an increasing demand for that service in Singapore due to increasing regulation of financial advisers which in turn is demanding increased professionalism, qualification, and holistic financial planning.”
In August, the company launched a website dedicated at the Non-resident Indian segment.
http://international-adviser.com/news/life/fpi-launches-website-aimed-at-nris
