By: Patrick Lim Well, as promised, for today, I shall attempt to address the widely held beliefs that an IFA may not offer unbiased advice and also bypass products not found in the IFA's stable. First and foremost, please allow me to digress by going into a little bit of history with regard to my earlier years with Promiseland Independent Pte Ltd. Throughout Promiseland Independent's existence stretching back to 1986, we have done insurance business with all life and composite insurers in Singapore. As one of the very few life insurance brokers since our existence (the FAA was passed in October 2002), we were privileged to have contracts with the big boys like AIA (restricted products and for a season only), Great Eastern Life, Prudential and even Overseas Assurance Corp. However, Great Eastern Life unilaterally terminated their contract with us in April 1998, Prudential also unilaterally in June 2000 and OAC in August 2000 because of their impending merger with Great Eastern Life in December 2000. And to cut a long story short, currently, of the 16 life and composite insurers in Singapore, we are free to recommend (without set targets or quotas) products from the following: a. Aviva b. AXA life c. Friends Provident International d. HSBC Insurance e. Manulife f. NTUC-Income g. Royal Skandia h. Swisslife (referral basis only) i. TM Asia Life j. Transamerica Life k. UOB Life l. Zurich International Life Because of the extensive range of products from these companies, we are able to offer more choices or even products not found in the other 4 insurers. It will be difficult not to acknowledge that the products available from these 12 insurers (representing 75% of all insurers in Singapore) are comprehensive and complete. On the availability of products, I shall make 2 motherhood statements: