Yesterday, MAS issued its response to the FAIR. The following is a summary of the response:
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There is a clarification that wills writings, estate planning and tax planning – which are complementary financial planning services – can be offered directly by the licensed FA firm (LFA) or through referral. However, nothing is mentioned about whether can insurance agencies and its agents (i.e. tied agents) do the same. I infer that tied agents are prohibited from doing so.
My comments: If this is true, it means insurance agents who want to provide holistic financial planning services cannot do so. Insurance agents are not even required to monitor ILP funds an on-going basis. If you are an insurance agent, it is time for you to consider your next career path.
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Licensed FA firms are given the discretion to allow their representatives to conduct non-FA activities subject to the 3 conditions namely ...