The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM), in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and the Malaysian Insurance Institute, has opened its doors to the first batch of students to participate in the LIAM Structured Internship Program (LIAM SIP).
Around 30 students from various colleges and universities across Malaysia will participate in the three-month program, which includes a two-day workshop to strengthen participants’ leadership, communication, and presentation skills.
The participants will be assigned to one of the 16 LIAM member companies, which include major industry players such as
AIA,
Allianz,
AXA,
Manulife, Sun Life, and
Zurich. Interns will be provided with a monthly allowance.
During the program’s launch, Ramzi Toubassy, chairman of LIAM’s industry promotion committee, said: “The LIAM SIP is part of the industry’s contribution towards human capital development under the Insurans Hayat Cares’ community platform. We are providing opportunities to young undergraduates to gain real-life work experience and put theories they learned in universities into practice.”
The life insurers’ association hopes that the program will not only provide training and education for the interns, but will also inspire them to join the insurance industry. The program is in line with the government’s Transformation Program, which envisions establishing Malaysia as an insurance center in Asia. In order to achieve this, there should be a high supply and demand for skilled personnel in the insurance industry.
Currently, the life insurance sector has around 20,000 employees and over 85,000 agents all across the country. Combined, the life insurance and takaful industries contribute 6% of Malaysia’s gross national income, with premiums worth MYR6.8 billion (US$1.52 billion) in 2015.
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