Industry veteran Bernard Chai is CEO of new financial advisory firm which offers life insurance, general insurance and wealth management solutions
SINGAPORE 20 April 2023 – Life insurer Prudential Singapore (“Prudential”) today announced the official launch of Prudential Financial Advisers (“PFA”), its financial advisory arm. With PFA, Prudential now offers a wider range of insurance products including general insurance and wealth solutions. This is in addition to Prudential’s core solutions in whole and term life, health, savings, retirement and group insurance.
The new financial advisory firm will complement Prudential’s existing distribution ecosystem. Customers will have access to a broad range of products and services including general insurance such as travel insurance and motor insurance and wealth solutions such as unit trusts. They can also tap on the complementary solutions and auxiliary services including estate planning, family office and tax advisory, provided by PFA’s partners.
Mr Dennis Tan, CEO of Prudential Singapore, said the financial advisory business aims to better support Singapore residents who are living longer as the country’s life expectancy continues to rise.
“We are excited to launch Prudential Financial Advisers as it adds to the breadth and depth of our offerings to address people’s enhanced needs for financial security and healthcare at every stage of their life. The new entity will also strengthen our distribution network as we continue to grow our agency of more than 5,000 financial consultants, to serve the needs of all individuals.”
PFA will be led by Mr Bernard Chai, an industry veteran of more than 40 years. In almost two decades with Prudential, he has held key roles such as Head of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Partnership, Director of Partnerships Development, and Head of Business Development. He was most recently Prudential’s Head of Agency Transformation before being appointed the CEO of PFA.
Mr Bernard Chai, CEO of Prudential Financial Advisers, shared that the financial advisory channel has seen steady growth in the last few years.
“Customers today are expecting more one-stop solutions to meet their needs for all-of-life, especially on the back of rising life expectancy, and Prudential Financial Advisers is well-placed to meet this need. We bring the best of both worlds to our customers – Prudential’s life insurance offerings as well as general insurance and wealth management solutions from our partners. In this way, we help them to address their healthcare needs, as well as to protect and grow their wealth, so that they can better plan for their retirement.”
With the addition of PFA, Prudential’s distribution ecosystem comprises:
- Financial advisory firm: This new channel will offer a range of insurance and wealth solutions to customers at various stages of their financial planning journey.
- Tied agency: We have one of the largest tied agency networks in Singapore with more than 5,000 financial consultants who distribute our protection, savings and investment products.
- Bancassurance: Our exclusive bancassurance partners are United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), and we work closely with them to develop and deliver innovative insurance solutions to customers.
- Digital channels: We also offer PRUShield and microinsurance plans on Pulse by Prudential[1], our digital health and wellness app. Examples of microinsurance plans include: PRUSafe BreastCancer, PRUSafe Prostate Cancer, PRUSafe Dengue, PRUSafe COVIDCover, and PRUSafe Guard 22.[2]
