AIA S'pore hurt by loss of insurance agents

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Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Nopporn Wong-Anan
Reuters

AIA, which is working on a listing of its shares in Hong Kong, has lost about 700 agents in Singapore in the past year and is now trying to poach from rival insurers, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

It said AIA, the Asian life insurance arm of American International Group, is offering incentives that will allow recruits to earn up to 135 percent of what they previously achieved.

The aggressive tactics have sparked a warning by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

"We will not hesitate to take supervisory action against insurers whose agents engage in inappropriate behaviour stemming from aggressive poaching activities," the Straits Times quoted the regulator as saying.

AIA currently has around 3,300 agents in Singapore, down from 4,000 last year, the paper said. The city-state, despite having a population of just 5 million, is one of AIA's biggest markets.

AIA was not immediately available for comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE67H00U20100818

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