Responding to customers' needs

An update on ING's Insurance and Investment Management business in Malaysia - an interview with Dr. Nirmala Menon and Steve Ong Chong Gain. The rapid rise of Asia in the past four to five decades has been one of the biggest economic development success stories in recent times. Malaysia is one of the countries that is set to contribute to Asia’s future rise. To understand more about Malaysia and our business, we put several questions to Dr. Nirmala Menon (regional CEO of South East-Asia and CEO of ING Insurance Berhad) and Steve Ong Chong Gain (chief executive officer and director of ING Funds Berhad).

‘With you for life’

Dr. Nirmala Menon is a medical practitioner by training. Prior to becoming CEO, Dr. Nirmala was head of the Employee Benefits division of ING Insurance. In 2007, she was appointed president & CEO of ING Insurance, making her the first woman CEO in Malaysia's life insurance industry. Recently, she was named Asia's Leading Woman in Finance and Investment at the Women in Leadership Asia Awards 2011. The award recognises and rewards influential Asian women leaders who have broken new ground in the business world with their outstanding achievements.

Please tell us what ING Insurance does in Malaysia and what are the main business developments/achievements this year?

"The insurance business in Malaysia was started in 1973 by Aetna insurance. ING acquired the business in 2000 after the acquisition of the global business of Aetna. Since the acquisition, ING Insurance Malaysia has expanded the business rapidly and is currently among the top insurance companies in Malaysia. In terms of ranking:

No. 1 Employee Benefits
No. 2 New Business (- Annualised Premium Equivalent - APE) through Bank distribution
No. 3 New Business (APE) through Tied Agency distribution

ING Insurance Malaysia currently provides a comprehensive array of financial solutions, ranging from Life Insurance, Employee Benefits, General Insurance and Family Takaful to meet the financial needs of all segments of the Malaysian population.

One of the key developments this year is that in April 2011, ING Insurance, together with its strategic partners, Public Bank Berhad (PBB) and Public Islamic Bank Berhad (PIBB), launched a new joint venture in Malaysia called ING PUBLIC Takaful Ehsan Berhad to develop Takaful insurance products. Takaful is similar to conventional life insurance, but is compliant with Islamic law."

ING Insurance Malaysia has been performing well. What are the factors behind this success?

"ING Insurance Malaysia’s commercial slogan is 'With You for Life', which focuses on what we try to be for our customers, a partner to them at every life stage and for every type of financial need that comes with the different stages. We want the customers to know that they take centre stage. So how do we reach out to our customers? With our unique and well-developed multi-distribution channel strength, consisting of a solid tied agency distribution exceeding 9,000 agents, a strategic bank distribution agreement with Public Bank, the third largest bank in Malaysia and our direct corporate sales team - we are able to reach out to our customers. Our aim is to develop our distribution so that we are equipped to provide financial planning services with a customer needs focus and with professionalism. We hope to add value to our customer experience in this way. We are definitely not there yet as this is a journey of development that we are embarking upon with our distribution.

In addition, ING Insurance Malaysia strives to continuously improve on our operational efficiency and accuracy so that we can enrich the customer experience.

ING Insurance Malaysia has performed well over the years: our bank distribution position has increased from No. 9 to No. 2 and we continue to maintain our No.1 position for health insurance.

'With You for Life' also extends to our employees and to the society in which we live and operate. Since 2003, ING Insurance Malaysia has been actively supporting the Cleft Lip and Palate Association of Malaysia or CLAPAM. The "Spread the Smile" campaign has created great awareness of the cleft condition and the financial assistance that is available to underprivileged children to undergo corrective surgery & speech therapy. We continue to fund this cause through a link with doctors and the association, CLAPAM. This has gained a lot of momentum and over the last two years, we have been successful in starting a huge awareness movement using social media. Our Spread the Smile Facebook fan page even won an award for attracting the highest number of fans within a short time frame."

What key business tasks lie ahead for the Malaysian business?

"The main task is to improve customers' understanding and consumers' acceptance by consumers of insurance so that insurance penetration can be improved and available opportunities realised. We also need to improve the professionalism of the distribution force players as we turn them into true financial planners.

In addition, we need to continuously enrich the customer experience and ensure we provide value as the key differentiator

It's also about leveraging on our brand presence as the No. 1 health insurance provider to upsell and cross-sell to our customers."

Following the publication of this article in the November issue of ing.world, it was announced that Dr. Nirmala Menon has been appointed regional head of South Asia for Insurance Asia/Pacific, overlooking the business operations in Malaysia, Thailand, India and Hong Kong. She also has regional responsibility for agency distribution. Her new role will take effect on 1 January 2012.

“Investing Made Easy”

We also spoke to Steve Ong, CEO and director of ING Funds Berhad ('ING Funds'). Steve Ong is a seasoned professional with over 28 years of experience in the financial services industry. He launched the company in 2004. Prior to his move to ING Funds, he was involved in the life insurance business for 21 years.

ING Funds offers retail clients a comprehensive range of investment funds and portfolio management services, from local investment funds to providing ING Investment Management's global investment funds. ING Funds also offers discretionary investment mandates to wholesale, corporate and institutional clients. Through ING Funds, local investors have access to the best of ING's local and offshore funds and investment solutions, which is reflected in the company's tag line 'Global Investment Management, Local Presence'.

How has the investment industry evolved since 2008 and as the CEO of ING Funds, how has that changed the way you do business?

"Retail investors have changed significantly in their investment mindset and attitude since the global financial crisis in 2008. Investors have learnt that investing is not easy, with local and global markets experiencing increasing volatility and uncertainties, arising from economic and sovereign risk issues in the US and EU. Investors have come to realise that paying attention to the inherent investment risks is important rather than just being fixated on investment returns. Because of the continuing market uncertainties, investors are realising that they have to also pay closer attention to managing their investment funds."

"In response to our investors' and advisers' feedback and requests and to address their ongoing investment concerns, ING Funds has created and launched the ING Actively Managed Portfolios (AMP) Plus service. The AMP service was launched in May 2009 and has been well-received by both investors and our advisers in meeting their investment needs. The AMP has also gained industry recognition, winning the 'ASEAN Most Innovative Investment Manager' title awarded by the ASEAN Retail Chains and Franchise Federation in November 2010 and 'Malaysia - Most Innovative Product' award granted by Asia Asset Management's Best of the Best 2010."

These articles were earlier published in ing.world - the Group's digital magazine - in November 2011.