Seven winners have emerged from the hunt for Singapore's best planners in the banking, insurance and financial advisory sectors.

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The Financial Planner Awards 2019 aims to recognise financial planners who excel in their professional knowledge and uphold best practices. There were 157 submissions, up from last year's 98.

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The awards, organised by the Financial Planning Association of Singapore (FPAS), were given out during a gala dinner at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore on Friday.

Ms Merlyn Ee, executive director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, was the guest of honour.

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This year, there were two winners from the banking - open category: Mr Derrick Thong from United Overseas Bank and Mr Wu Ruicheng from HSBC.

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Mr Thong hopes the award will encourage more advisers to offer recommendations based on needs. "Advisers should understand the clients holistically, be unbiased and be able to value-add to the customers' needs," he said.

Mr Wu said an outstanding financial adviser has to be open, dependable and be able to connect with their clients so as to gain a deeper understanding of the clients' lifelong ambition, financial situation, objectives and risk appetite.

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Ms Mabel Tan from Great Eastern Life, who clinched the insurance - rising star award, said: "Financial advisers should be able to identify clients' potential roadblocks and design a highly flexible blueprint to follow through with the client in every stage of his life."

 

The other winners were DBS Bank's Alicia Dee for banking - rising star; Prudential Assurance's Eric Seah for insurance - open; Professional Investment Advisory Services' Jerry Yeo for financial advisory - open; and Financial Alliance's Zed Xiao for financial advisory - rising star.

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FPAS president Edy Hartono said: "Apart from the increased number of submissions, the quality has also improved. We are seeing more participants using Singapore Savings Bond and the transfer of CPF Ordinary Account savings to Special Account as some of the strategies, which would be useful for clients who want risk-free returns."

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The association will continue to raise the bar for professionalism and holistic advice in Singapore so that customers can benefit from professional advice, he added.

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Participants were required to submit a written financial plan based on a case study from FPAS, and make an oral presentation. They were assessed on how they would analyse a client's financial situation, their recommendations, risk analysis, suitability of advice, and understanding of the client's goals and objectives.

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One of the judges, HSBC head of wealth Deepak Khanna, was pleased to see the depth of work in client analysis, risk assessments and solution recommendations in their submissions.

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He said: "The wealth industry needs such platforms to recognise talents that demonstrate knowledge and skills needed especially for complex financial planning and advisory."

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DBS, AIA Singapore and Financial Alliance received corporate awards for companies with the most finalists.

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Some of the winners will speak at the FPAS Financial Planning Conference in October, where they will discuss how to spot a good financial plan and encourage consumers to take positive-planning action.

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The 14 judges included Institute of Banking and Finance chief operating officer Rachie Hui, Phillip Capital managing director Luke Lim, Institute for Financial Literacy director V. Maheantharan, Grandtag Financial Group chief executive Ben Fok, and Sunday Times invest editor Lorna Tan.