Dear Mr. Tan
The board of NTUC Income said that they asked you to leave because they wanted the company to be more professional. This is unfair to you, as it implied that you did not run the company in a professional manner. But you were able to achieve success in building up NTUC Income, so what does being more professional actually mean?
REPLY
It is the prerogative of the board to appoint its management to run NTUC Income in any manner that they deem to be fit. I do not wish to argue with their decision.
It was possible for me to run NTUC Income in a "more professional way" by spending more money on advertising, corporate image, management consultants, booking expensive hotels for their corporate events and travelling first class on airlines. But I prefer to be frugal and keep the expenses low, so that NTUC Income can give a better return to the policyholders.
The ultimate test is as follows - will a "more professional" approach give better return to policyholders, charge lower premiums for the insurance and provide better service to the policyholders?
The policyholders will have to judge for themselves, based on what has happened over the past few years.
The board of NTUC Income said that they asked you to leave because they wanted the company to be more professional. This is unfair to you, as it implied that you did not run the company in a professional manner. But you were able to achieve success in building up NTUC Income, so what does being more professional actually mean?
REPLY
It is the prerogative of the board to appoint its management to run NTUC Income in any manner that they deem to be fit. I do not wish to argue with their decision.
It was possible for me to run NTUC Income in a "more professional way" by spending more money on advertising, corporate image, management consultants, booking expensive hotels for their corporate events and travelling first class on airlines. But I prefer to be frugal and keep the expenses low, so that NTUC Income can give a better return to the policyholders.
The ultimate test is as follows - will a "more professional" approach give better return to policyholders, charge lower premiums for the insurance and provide better service to the policyholders?
The policyholders will have to judge for themselves, based on what has happened over the past few years.
11 comments:
What they mean by 'professional' is by giving their koyok salesmen 'professional ' looking titles to con consumers.Are their salesmen deserved to be called 'Financial consultants'? Aren't their Executive financial consultants execute only order taking salesmen? Or calling their some senior management VPs..WOw, so professional sounding. All these at the expense of the consumers and then to cover up they use 'people before profit' slogan to appear they care about the consumers' financial well being.But their salesmen's actions say otherwise.They peddle upfront products with high commission to feed their own greed and to meet their management's high expectation of high APIs.How do the consumers benefit? Where got people before profit? They should know that peddling upfront products will NEVER meet the clients' goals.First thing how do they know the clients' needs if they don't fact find. It is like a doctor giving the medicine to any walk in patient without examining the patient, right? This is malpractice, breaching section 27 of the FAA, deliberately flouting what MAS is doing.
MAS should stop their salesmen from using those misleading titles to misrepresent to the public that they are some financail experts. They are no experts except koyok product peddlers for high commission. MAS must check the cases by their salesmen for so called 'professionalism'.Just send your mystery shoppers to gather evidence at their roadshows and you will be shocked to see and hear how their products are peddled like koyok like the koyokmen at Waterloo Sttreet..the cure everything koyok whole life or cashback scam product.
For the sake of the buying public , MAS, please do something before more people get hurt financially.
Professional means to them, don a sheep skin to appear like sheep, ie,they call themselves social enterprise to confuse instead of calling themselves cooperative because they are not cooperatives anymore.
I remember when Mr Goh CT was invited to our 40th anniversary he commented on the products being pushed and leaving many customers under insured due to conflict of interest and the cleints' interest were not at the heart of the sale.How can product pushing ever have the interest of the clients' interest first? Well, Mr. Goh's call to go back to the root of the cooperatives and the objectives of its existence for the workers and the man in the in the street was heeded during the speech but soon forgotten and the company was back to its normal self, only push high commission products with high APIs so that the agents and the company can win, the agents get to be able to qualify for incentive trips and the company to be #1. What about the customers? Aren't they achieving their goals at the expense of their customers? Who pays for the incentives, the trips and the promotions for the greedy salesmen? have they ever considered the goals of their clients? No!!!! how to when these salesmen are not qualified at all in finance and financial planning.How to plan for their customers? by being sincere? caring? good service? product info?
These are craps if they are not competent, honest and not putting the interest of their clients' first. Where is the top down fair dealing outcome to consumers?
What so professional? is it to fleece more money out of their customers? to become #1? Is #1 very important especailly at the expense of the cleints? Is it the objective of its cooperative character? All rubbish..it exists now to serve the interest of the people managing it and the army of super dupers are being used to achieve their interest. The management knows how to exploit the greed of the salesmen disguised as some financial experts and which they are not at all.
They define professionalism to suit themselves, to jsutify what they doing.
The Whistle Blower
I am sure we have experienced the PAP's professional approach in managing Singapore Inc, rather losing billions of "shareholders' money" without batting an eyelid instead of spending more on the cooperative way of caring for us citizens. Moving ahead, staying together, professionally, uniquely Singapore.
I read LSS's comment with extreme disappointment.
This is apparently one of the key problem which the world and Singapore is facing today.
Unfortunately our government is still 'blinded' by this Anglo-Saxon management philosophy which does not be necessary superior to the old managment school of Taylorism and Fordism.
Many people talk about 'professional' loosely today.
Many organisations (including MNCs) manage their business based on 'Anglo-Saxon professionalism' approach but look what it leads to our world today
i.e. more management greed and short-termism (masquerading in the glorious name of 'professionalism') has led to rampant corporate downfalls and frauds.
This so-called 'professionalism' also led to higher operating expense.
Transaction costs (dead weigh loss) increase and customers' benefits have eroded to milk the so-called 'more professional management'.
You know what I mean if you look closely at our current state of public services and operations (e.g. utilities, medical, transport etc).
To me, professionalism are based on the principles of 'fairness', 'integrity', 'transparency', 'honesty' and 'reasonable costs'.
Some of these principles do coincide with TKL's philosophy which he has stated clearly at the inception of his campaign.
I do not need a highly paid 'professional' team to manage 'public services / goods' and 'co-operative'. All I need is TKL's good principles and cost effectiveness.
Hope LSS and government get the picture right.
LW
Does profession mean new coat of paint, refurbished building, new titles, expensive board room chairs, meet in posh and expensive places? Many of them already resigned when they saw through the crap, only left those who can't go anywhere or because of high salary or greedy ones who suck up in the hope of getting promotion and more incentives.
The salesmen, the insurance agents or some fancifool titles, whatever names they use, no use one, people know they are sales champions, that is what they are belovedly called, who prowl the street to prey on unwary victims to buy their useless products.
Is this professional? crap is the right word to describe them.
In those years after 1997 ~ 911 ~ SARs crises, all the companies were talking about engaging "professional" managers.
Then they appoint "management consultants" etc...have restructuring and M&A etc. More than 70% of BPR projects actually failed, based on research.
The Korean chaebol I worked for was the same. Ironically, I was also retrenched in 2005, after working 13 years; and collecting a string of "paper" awards in the preceding years.
I like the fact that Mr Tan cited :-
"Singaporeans need only to see the operations of the privatised bus and train services to
understand why I had fought so hard for NTUC Income to avoid being privatised."
I like to add to it... SMRT preferred to add shopping rental spaces to collect more revenue than to add more trains...To the "professional managers", this is "upgrading your shopping experience and convenience"...then they think of "ways how to squeeze you into the trains". LOL.
When the "basic objectives" cannot be met, why talked about secondly objectives, especially in the long-term.
Last year the incentive trip to Spain required the qualifiers to sell some ILPs as a condition. Suddenly the salesmen who feared selling ILPs became experts on investment. I had the fortune or misfortune to attend some of the sharings by some top ILP sellers .I told myself to be open minded and unbiased but to my misfortune an disappointment (I wasn't shocked because I braced myself for it) they were selling koyok like they were selling other traditional products.My admiration was that these hitherto fearful of ILPs salesmen could transform themselves into investment experts.One speaker was saying something like mind over matter or overcoming her mindset on ILPs after being on the great wall of China.No diferrence in her approach..product pushing appraoch but this time with some positive but falsehoods mixed and thrown in to con/confuse her customers who seemed like comatose trusting long time policyholders.
The question is how these unprofessionals became so professionals. How are they judged?
How were they transformed? The answer isn't difficult. Incentivise them, dangle a carrot, 'force them' , eg. like the Spain trip...no ILPs cannot qualify.Simple as this..put it another way, to make them produce use money as incentives and they work their ass out to get it. What skills needed? Zero!!!!just higher commission; money in form of vouchers or some gifts. Do you not think this will add up the cost?
Who cares? The consumers pay for them and that is the philosophy when ID2 was removed and replaced by vivolink which charges more than 120% and if the clients use this as saving plan it will take more 15 years to break even and also depending on LUCK. The female sharers were terribly good at convincing their trusting clients to use this plan to save..Wonder to save for who? Maybe to save for the sellers.This product isn't much different from the regular ILPs out there. The charges maybe lower but that doesn't make it less scam.
After attending these experts' sharings my opinion of them got even lower until completely a write off. They are in the business not to help their cleints but to rip them off for their own pocket.MAS,this is a good candidate for audit.
I am puzzled by what Lim Swee Say has said below:
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5136775
I am an NTUC Policyholder for more than twenty years and I can say with certainty that there is a noticeable change since then. How can NTUC Income be more professional now than before when:
1. I used to get a response from their staff by the next working day and now I do not even get a response within a week.
2. I used to get a response from their CEO within the same day and now I do not get a response from their CEO even when I try to call him and wait for a return call.
3. NTUC Income used to be frugal but now spend excessively on expensive chairs and posh venues for their meetings.
4. Bonuses and returns to policyholders were cut unilaterally, even for policies that are supposed to garner higher returns with higher premiums paid specifically for the higher returns.
5. In the past, there were many policies that give good value, e.g. foundation policies, living refund etc where premiums are very low and protection high while now the policies are mainly high premiums but low protection and returns.
If LSS thinks that by being seated on expensive chairs and existing in posh environments is being more professional then he is just being shallow.
If LSS thinks that a CEO should not have to give a response to policyholders but to delegate it to his juniors then it is probably a reflection of his own misguided leadership style.
If LSS thinks that by having designer office furniture and vases on display highlighted by special lighting is being professional then he is wrong as policyholders want value from their policies and not showroom visualisation effects.
Or maybe I am wrong and LSS is just too busy with his CPF statements or is suffering from a case of chronic "Deaf Frog" syndrome and not aware of what is happening on the ground.
http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/viewtopic.php?t=452259&highlight=
He is deafened by the humogous salary and CPF he has.
Anon August 09, 2011 4:42 PM,
Hi, I was there too. The middle aged woman who shared her crap on ILPs is an Executive Financial Consultant.( I am ashamed of her title)I also wonder how the great wall could change her 'skill' or improve her investment skill. She was puking rubbish. MAAS ought to audit all cases sold by her.I cringed to hear. I left half way through her rubbish with my expectation badly damaged.
What kind of professionals LSS said about these people in ntuc Income is a puzzle? He is blind now.The agents with fancifool titles are ain't nothing but salesmen preying on the clueless and unwary victims. I am sad that the new management is worser and I am thinking of leaving despite my 20 years there.
What disappointed me was LSS inability to distinguish between commercial and professional. LSS is still deaf for not knowing that ntuc has turned or has been operating like commercial with social enterprise mission and it has been said many times by the new management and yet he is deaf not to know. He is still a deaf frog. Wonder he been deafen by the chairs in the board room.
Yes, MAS should conduct a check on ntuc income for the 'professionalism' LSS talked about.
To the PAP members, more professional means consumers pay more so that they can have more pay and they can build luxury offices where a chair can cost thousands of dollars
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