CIMB Wealth Sells AIA Products

Excerpt from The Star 31st March 2009

Tuesday March 31, 2009

CIMB Wealth forms alliance with AIA

Tie-up will enable a holistic approach to financial planning

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Wealth Advisors Bhd yesterday formalised a 10-year strategic alliance with American International Assurance Bhd (AIA) to offer a wide range of differentiated and innovative insurance protection solutions.

CIMB Wealth Advisors chief executive officer Tan Beng Wah said the company’s 5,500 agents and financial planners would market insurance products underwritten by AIA and its subsidiary AIA Takaful International Bhd.

“It (strategic alliance) will enable both parties to leverage on their proven strengths and expertise in the areas of wealth planning and insurance protection solutions respectively to offer Malaysians a holistic approach to financial planning,” he told reporters after the agreement signing ceremony yesterday.

Tan said the company’s agents and wealth planners would now be able to offer customised financial solutions to clients by bundling some of the insurance products with other offerings such as unit trust funds, credit cards, structured products, wills and trusts services provided by the CIMB group.

He also said there was potential to cross-sell their products to benefit both organisations.

“It took us about a year to seal this partnership and last month we came out with a product offering that combines education with insurance,” he said.

He said CIMB would initially introduce about seven AIA insurance products.

AIA chief executive officer Khor Hock Seng said: “Through this alliance AIA will be able to tap into CIMB Wealth Advisors’ agency distribution strength and 35 regional offices to provide a full range of diversified insurance products.”

Khor said AIA would also focus on designing new and innovatice products to meet the changing needs of its customers.

Products currently underwritten and developed by AIA include traditional life, investment-linked medical, education and endowment.

CIMB Wealth Advisors is a subsidiary of CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd, which is jointly owned by CIMB Group and the Principal Financial Group in the United States.

AIA, with 60 years of local market presence, is one of the country’s largest life insurers with 23 branches nationwide and over 1,000 employees and 10,000 agents.

Penyakit TB Kembali

Excerpt from The Star, 27th March 2009

Published: Friday March 27, 2009 MYT 2:16:00 PM

Tuberculosis re-emerging but private doctors unaware

By BEH YUEN HUI
KUALA LUMPUR: The once controlled tuberculosis disease is spreading again in Malaysia because private doctors have failed to realise the disease has re-emerged.

Respiratory Medical Institute (IPR) director Datin Dr Aziah Ahmad Mahayiddin said a standard practice required doctors to send patients suffering from acute cough for two weeks for tuberculosis tests.

“However, the procedure is often not fully adhered to as most private clinics do not have a laboratory,’’ she said, adding that the disease was contagious and needed to be treated immediately.

Dr Aziah said that in the 90s, tuberculosis had been controlled and had dropped to a minimal and certain private practitioners had forgotten about it.

“Some doctors are not aware that it is re-emerging in the country,’’ she said.

Tuberculosis is a highly infectious, often deadly, disease that mostly attacks the lungs and whose classic symptoms include chronic cough, blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats and weight loss.

Statistics show reported tuberculosis cases in Malaysia has risen from 61.2 cases per 100,000 people in 2005 to 63.1 cases last year.

She added that a total of 17,506 new cases with 1,523 deaths were reported last year.

Dr Aziah added it was vital to raise the awareness, not only among those in the medical fields but everyone.

She told reporters at the World Tuberculosis Day celebrations, themed “I am Stopping TB”, at IPR here on Friday.

Federal Territory Health Department deputy director Dr Salehuddin Abu Bakar said the department had issued letters, reminding doctors to be aware of the spread of contagious diseases such as dengue and tuberculosis.

He said a person with a weak immune system faced a higher risk of infection.

The Malaysian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis president Datuk Seri Yeop Jr Yeop Adlan said tuberculosis patients from rural areas could apply for a monthly allowance from them while receiving treatment.

He said successful candidate would be give a maximum allowance of RM400, up to six months - a standard period for the treatment. Visit www.mapth.org.my for details.

IPR, located in Jalan Pahang, provides free treatment for tuberculosis patients for just a RM5 registration fee.