Consumer Education Effort

QUESTION FROM JOURNALIST

MAS's deputy managing director, Ms Teo Swee Lian gave a speech outlining the general trends and challenges facing the insurance industry.

Question: Do you agree with the areas mentioned by her?

Reply: I agree with the following priorities:

- futher consumer education efforts
- improve clarity in the sales process and in documents
- raise ethical standards of agents
- raise proficiency of financial advisers

Question: I think NTUC Income for its part, has spearheaded some education efforts. Can you tell me more about these?

Reply: We have set up a website called www.KnowYourInsurance.com.sg. We encourage the public to visit the webite and learn about specific insurance topics on their own. They can take a simple test. On completing the test, we offer them a modest discount if they take the insurance with us, either directly or through our adviser.

The website receives an average of 500 visitors a day. About 100 take the test daily. We are happy with the results. We consider this to be a successful website.

I also write about insurance matters in my personal blog, www.tankinlian.blogspot.com. About 100 people read my blog each day. Some fo them e-mail to me, after reading my blog to ask additional questions. They told me that they like my blog, as it is educational.