Extracts from the address of the Chairman,

YM Tunku Ya'acob Bin Tunku Abdullah

at the Twenty-Fifth Annual General Meeting on 27th March 1998.

Buy Malaysian Campaign

Our Exco carried out a number of brainstorming sessions to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Malaysian-owned insurance companies.

An area of emphasis to highlight is our Malaysian equity and to assist the Nation in retaining funds within the country. In this regard, we designed a suitable logo for use on all stationery, promotional materials and as advertisements for our member companies.

As you are aware, the logo was launched by the Deputy Minister of Finance, YB Dato' Wong See Wah, on 15 January 1998 and the event was extensively reported in the media. Further to this, we placed logo ads in all newspapers in the country. The advertisements emphasized our strengths and nationalistic spirit and carried the names of all our participating companies.

I am happy to note that this Buy Malaysian Campaign was positively received by the Government and thd public. Our continued use of the logo will further enhance our standing and result in the overall increase in retention of business and funds within the country. In the meantime, I would like to thank all our member companies for their support in making a success of this campaign.

Life Insurance

Common Product
Based on our strategic review, it was concluded by that the big gap in the market share of the Malaysian-owned life insurance companies could be narrowed by catering for the average Malaysians in the middle income, lower income and working class low income groups as well as those who do not have any life insurance.

In this context, we considered the introduction of a common product with a common marketing campaign would achieve the desired results and at the same time reduce the marketing costs for participation by member companies.

Our Special Life Committee, has put in substantial time and effort in the development of the product , TERAS MALAYSIA. We also had a number of meetings with CEOs of our life number companies as well as Actuarial meetings, to determine the pricing. Our marketing consultants, AMC Communications, also presented their ideas and drafts on the marketing approach and budget.

I would like to convey my appreciation to the Deputy Chairman of the Life Special Committee, Mr Toi See Jong, as well as others in the Committee for their invaluable efforts in the Executive Committee.

It now appears that 9 of our 12 member companies will be participating in this project. The Special Life Committee will be working away within the next couple of weeks to finalize and fine tune the product to meet the target date for the launch by our Prime Minister, YAB Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir sometime towards end of April 1998.

Recognition Awards for Life Agents

Another key area of our strategic review is to award life insurance agents for their efforts and this would add to their standing and credibility. Whilst there is the MDRT and other overall of recognition, our agents find it difficult to achieve.

After careful deliberation, our Special Life Committee has come up with certain titles and criteria which will be based on First Year Premiums. The agents are also required to attend a minimum number of seminars to ensure that they have adequate knowledge in order to qualify for the award.

The launch date for these awards is planned to be within the next two months. The award will be for policies which incepted during calendar year 1997.

In addition to the certificates of award, we are also looking into having lapel pins to add to the prestige of the award.

Strategic Review - Other matters under consideration

Bank ATM Network
We consider that by working through the current banking system, NIAM would negotiate en-block for its life members to be tied up to the ATM systems of the country to provide added service to its members.

We already had a meeting with a major local bank and they will be drawing up a proposal to provide ATM facilities for the insurance industry to make it convenient for our policyholders to renew policies and to make their payments of premium.

Acceptability by Banks
We are aware that, currently, many NIAM members ( both life and general ) have a problem being accepted on the panel of Banks unlike foreign companies that have been established much earlier.

We feel that since insurance companies are regulated by BNM there should really be no question as to the solvency and strength of any insurer and banks should not be rejecting policies in particular, small policies, offered by the client.

For your information, NIAM is now making arrangements to meet with the Chairman of the Association of Banks to overcome this situation.

Business Visit to Germany
In May last year, we had a very successful business visit to Germany. A delegation of 19 Chief Executive Officers and Senior Managers led by our Deputy Chairman, Encik Mustaffa Ahmad, took part in the 10 day visit..

Our Association has made similar visits to China in 1993 and to Australia in 1995.

Seminars
Professor Jose Faustino of the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines conducted two seminars for middle managers on Leadership & Motivation in July and October 1997. Due to the favourable feedback we will be having a similar seminar in April this year and I am sure by now you would have registered for these seminars.

To improve the skills of our Managers in other specific areas, we had seminars on Successful Presentation and Stress Management by Mr Francis Seow and Mr Mano Maniam respectively last year. Due to the good response on the Successful Presentation seminar, there will be a re-run of the seminar in June and August this year.

In addition, in these difficult times, we see the need to improve the marketing skills of sales managers. In this regard, we are having two seminars on Marketing & Customer Service. We had jut completed one last week conducted by Dr. R Palan of Specialist Management Services and the next will be held in September and will be conducted by Mr Jeremy Spoor of the same organisation.

Not forgetting top management, we will be organising a 2 day residential seminar on "Effective Business Development" which will be held in Penang. This seminar will be conducted by two seminar Professors, Gabino A Mendoza and Francisco P Bernardo, of the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines.

Best Practice Workshops
In an effort to develop great insurance professionalism, NIAM will be holding best practice workshops. The first of the workshops on General Insurance Claims as held in February 1998 and was led by a facilitator, Mr John Epps of Lens International Malaysia. The feedback from the participants was very good and the seminar enabled them to share their experiences and know- how in improving the efficiency, productivity and effectiveness of the insurance claims.

After the workshop, notes on the conduct and recommendations for action were prepared. These reports have been sent to the participants and the CEOs if their respective companies.

Marine Insurance
As you would be aware, our Association had been following up on this issue with the Treasury to have greater local placement of marine insurance on imports particularly by NFPEs ( Non-Financial Public Enterprises). However at a concluding meeting last year, the Treasury Officers were of the view that the Non Financial Public Enterprises (NFPEs) should have their choice of insurers.

At the launch of the logo in January, TB Dato' Wong See Wah brought up the issue of the substantial outflow of foreign exchange for freight and insurance. We advised him on the status of our follow up with the Treasury and he has requested that we review the matter and bring it to the attention of the Ministry of Finance for further consideration.

NIAM Ri Club
As you are aware, we have been having regular cocktail receptions under the banner of the NIAM RI Club with a view to promoting the exchange of reinsurance. We have extended invitations to 5 person per company and these include the CEO, Senior Manager (Life), Senior Manager (Non-Life), Underwriting Manager and Reinsurance Manager. I hope that we do achieve further improvement in the area of liaison between our member companies at these gatherings.

As an additional feature, we invite speakers to give short talk at the function. At our last two cocktail receptions, we had MR Graham Galloway of Anderson Consulting to speak on the "MSC" and Mr David Chua of Insas Berhad to speak on "Investment".

For the cocktail reception subsequent to this Annual General Meeting, Dr R Palan of the Specialist Management Resources will be speaking on "Marketing in Times of Recession".