Great Eastern honoured 168 of its financial representatives for completing the FSMA's Agency Management Training Course (AMTC) and achieving IBF Standards Level 3 accreditation at a recent graduation ceremony. It now has the highest number of financial representatives with this accreditation, among the major insurers in Singapore.
Ben Tan, Managing Director, Regional Agency, FA and Bancassurance, Great Eastern, said, “We are very proud to have 168 of our financial representatives stepping up to the challenge and completing these rigorous programmes. AMTC programmes are an industry-leading mark of quality for insurance professionals, and are designed to equip them with key competencies needed for their roles as leaders and mentors to run and grow an agency successfully in today’s challenging and digitalised insurance marketplace.”
Last year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore outlined industry plans to strengthen Singapore’s world-class financial capabilities – including equipping existing professionals with new skills – as part of its Financial Services Industry Transformation Roadmap. In line with the industry’s agenda, Great Eastern is targeting to have 220 certified financial representatives in IBF Level 3 accreditation by 2020.
AMTC – the way forward for agency leaders
Since 2013, Great Eastern financial representatives pursuing the management career path to become an agency director are required to attend the 23-week AMTC. Starting from November 2018, the expanded 25-week AMTC includes the IBF Level 3 programme component. Great Eastern has made completing AMTC mandatory for all aspiring agency directors, come 2021. To be eligible for AMTC, the financial representatives will need to be an agency leader.
The AMTC aims to help financial representatives develop and enhance their management skills in five core modules – planning, recruitment, selection, training and performance management. The lessons are carried through role-plays, case-studies and graded assignments, in a mix of classroom and practicum sessions.
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Graduates who had previously completed the 23-week AMTC course will need to complete a 1-day bridging course where they learn about using the Balanced Scorecard framework to monitor and manage their agency’s strategy and business goals, to qualify them to receive the IBF Level 3 certification. This bridging course will run until 2020.
FSMA was established in 1995 and is the only voluntary organisation within the financial services and insurance industry to serve the needs of agency field leaders and managers. IBF is a not-for-profit industry association set up in 1974 to foster and develop the professional competencies of the financial industry, and represents the interests of 200 member financial institutions including banks and insurance companies.
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