Japanese insurer to take shopping to another level?

TAKING a leaf from its own book, Tokyo-based Sony Life Insurance is replicating in Singapore a distribution model that works in Japan - untested here - but which is likely to further accelerate Singapore's life insurance industry's shift to sell through the financial advisory (FA) channel.

Sony Life Singapore, affiliated with Sony Financial Holdings, plans to open more than 40 shops "mostly in major shopping malls" over 10 years.

Explaining this model as "a popular style in Japan", its managing director Fumio Aono says Japanese consumers prefer to go to the shops to get financial advice or to compare products.