KUALA LUMPUR: AIA Public Takaful Bhd (AIA Public Takaful) is committed to helping Malaysians achieve financial security and has gone the extra mile to empower the Bumiputera segment to build wealth in the post-pandemic era.
Its chief executive officer Elmie Aman Najas said the proprietary Total Wealth Solution that was launched recently supports its customers’ wealth aspirations and complements the pre-existing Total Health Solution.
“We rolled out Total Health Solution in April 2021 with the goal of helping people take charge of their health and wellbeing. Through this proposition, our customers are provided holistic support and guidance on how to live healthily and with vitality.
“Our Total Wealth Solution, meanwhile, is designed to encourage them to inculcate healthy financial habits and make sound investments that will fulfil their long-term savings goals and, at the same time, help them build a lasting and effective legacy for their family,” he said.
According to Elmie, the Total Health and Wealth Solutions together form an end-to-end ecosystem that is built upon the foundation of four supporting pillars — Plan Well, Live Well, Protect Well and Get Well, which enable customers to lead healthier, longer, better lives.
“We believe that health and wealth go hand in hand. Our goal is to create a comprehensive ecosystem that would ultimately provide our customers with everything they need to achieve a better quality of life,” he said in an interview with the New Straits Times recently.
He also added that the demand for personalised health and wellness propositions coupled with trusted and professional advice has never been greater.
That is why whenever AIA Public Takaful develops any solutions, it always looks at how the products and offerings can meet customers’ health, wealth and protection needs.
“So, the focus on ‘wealth’ is always there. As a leading takaful operator, we always challenge ourselves to develop and offer innovative shariah-compliant plans that can support our customers even when they are not utilising their takaful benefits,” he said.
According to the Finance Ministry, up to the first half of 2022, over 6.6 million members (52 per cent) of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) aged under 55 had savings of less than RM10,000.
Of that number, 4.99 million (75 per cent) were Bumiputera.
Throughout the pandemic, Malaysians are taking on more debt and withdrawing from their retirement and EPF funds, which may lead to an uncertain future.
Elmie said that these staggering statistics show financial planning is becoming increasingly necessary.
“We know that as Malaysians adjust to living in this post-pandemic era, they need a partner to help them rebuild their future with confidence. We are definitely well positioned to offer solutions and drive initiatives to ensure Malaysians have access to adequate health and wealth protection.
“Hence, our Total Wealth Solution steps into this role nicely, giving them the resources and support to start planning again.
“So, the first step towards achieving any goal is to ‘Plan Well’, which is the first pillar of our end-to-end ecosystem.
“Customers can take advantage of AIA’s financial planning tools, such as our award-winning Financial Health Check that is available via the My AIA mobile app and AIA website for free, as a way to help everyone assess their protection and wealth needs.
“With this digital engagement, we provide a simple and easy way for people to review their financial standing and plan for a more solid future,” he added.
The second pillar of ‘Live Well’ motivates customers to live a healthier life through its AIA Vitality programme, while the third pillar of ‘Protect Well’ secures their future through comprehensive savings and investment plans that are integrated with the expertise of AIA’s Investment Management Services.
“For example, our latest investment-linked plan, A-Life Legasi Beyond not only provides up to six times the protection amount through Hibah, but also rewards our customers for staying financially disciplined with our Legasi Booster feature, on top of offering Estate Management benefits.
“Our A-Enrich Rezeki family takaful, on the other hand, is designed to help our customers boost their savings further and enjoy potential investment gains through the plan’s investment-linked features.
“Not only that, to help customers maximise long-term returns, in June, we added a new fund to our investment-linked fund portfolio – A-Dana Strategy Dynamic, which provides exposure to both foreign and local shariah-compliant equities,” he said.
Through the fourth and final pillar – Get Well, Elmie explains that customers are well supported throughout their medical journey should they fall ill.
“We provide our customers with access to quality healthcare services via our vast network of hospitals, clinics and receive personal medical case management services from diagnosis to recovery,” added Elmie.
Complementing this holistic proposition is the takaful operator’s more than 14,000-strong team of Life Planners who are given the mandate to not only help Malaysians achieve their hopes and aspirations, but to also inspire people to live healthy and well.
“We don’t see our agents as just Life Planners, but instead have tasked our agency force with embracing a new role of being HLBL partners to our customers,” he said, referring to the acronym of ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Lives’.
“We expect our Life Planners to walk the talk. Attaining the title means they are not only trained to give professional financial advice but also to guide and motivate our customers on what it truly means to live HLBL,” he said.
This shift in agency mindset is one of the many reasons why AIA Public Takaful is the top takaful operator for agency recruitment; one out of three takaful agents in the country is from AIA.
Elmie said that in AIA Public Takaful’s mission to stay ahead of the competition, one of its key differentiators is its commitment and ability to go above and beyond protection.
Traditionally, takaful operators tend to focus on just protection, but AIA Public Takaful wants to break away from that mould.
“We have been protecting Malaysians for more than a decade and continue to remain committed to delivering on our purpose of being there for our customers not only for that one day or ‘just in case’ but every day – helping them live life to the fullest,” he said.
To learn more about AIA Public Takaful’s Total Health and Wealth Solutions, visit its website.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
