Outlook for Malaysia's financial services industry positive, says official

KOTA KINABALU: The outlook for the financial services industry,
particularly in the insurance sector, is positive as Malaysia's
increasing population and rising disposable income will result in more
people requiring financial services.
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Yee Moh Chai,
said this was evident from last year's finance and insurance sector
growth rate of 5.9 per cent, which was higher than the national gross
domestic product of 5.1 per cent.
Yee, who is also State
Minister of Human Resource Development and Information Technology, said
this was due to the strong performance in bank lending and the increase
in premiums in the insurance sector.
"There is no doubt that
this sector is steadily growing and hopefully would increase the
penetration rate especially in the general insurance sector," he said
at the opening of AXA Affin Life Insurance Bhd's branch here today.
He
said while competition was tough, relatively low penetration has
created plenty of space for growth as the state's economy entered a
vital phase of development.
"With the thriving property segment
and development in major areas in Sabah, the property and land
insurance are set to grow significantly in the next few years.
"The
recently-announced foreign workers' insurance being enforced in Sabah
would further stimulate the growth in the medical segment," he said.
Earlier,
chief executive officer of AXA Affin Life Insurance, Loke Kah Meng,
said currently the company has over 1,400 agents nationwide.
"The
company will continue to further grow the force to 2,600 agents by next
year to better serve the customers," he said. - BERNAMA