Allianz Malaysia unit expects to beat industry growth rate By DALJIT DHESI

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Wang: ‘Allianz General is one of the few general insurers which has strong in-house actuary capabilities.’ PETALING JAYA: Allianz General Insurance Co (M) Bhd, a unit of Allianz Malaysia Bhd (AMB),
expects to exceed the industry's projected growth rate this year by
registering a double digit-growth for its gross written premiums.
On the whole, it aims to at least match last year's performance in the current financial year.
AMB chief operating officer Sean Wang
said the company expected gross written premiums this year to increase
by double digits, better than the single-digit growth expected for the
industry.
“We expect the same momentum in terms of overall performance that was achieved last year to continue this year.
“In
terms of earnings, Allianz General also expects its profit to grow by
double digits. Judging from the first-quarter results, which will be
released next month, the profit figure looks encouraging,” he told StarBiz.
For
the financial year ended Dec 31, 2012, a 14.4% expansion was achieved
above the industry growth rate with RM1.67bil in gross written premiums
last year compared with RM1.46bil in 2011.
Allianz General's
underwriting profit rose to RM133.4mil, a 29.2% jump from 2011. Pre-tax
profit rose 22.9% to RM215.9mil against RM175.7mil in the previous
year, while total assets was up 10.6% to RM4.25bil during the period
compared with RM3.85bil in 2011.
In terms of market share for
2012, the company was the leader in the general insurance segment,
according to the Insurance Services of Malaysia (ISM) report 2012, and
was among the top three players in the non-motor business.
According
to Wang, the strength of the company's agency channel is one of the
reasons for its strong growth as currently it has more than 6,000
agents after recruiting close to 1,000 since last year.
The
contribution of Allianz General to AMB's business, in terms of profit
before tax, was 72.5% while that of its life insurance subsidiary, Allianz Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd, stood at 24.3% as of Dec 31, 2012.
With
the latest IT tools, he said the company, via its marketers, was able
to assist agents for better renewal of existing businesses and ensured
that agents could focus on securing new businesses.
To this end,
Wang said that sizeable investments were put in place to beef up its
overall IT infrastructure to better serve customers and improve
workflow efficiency.
Currently, agency makes up 55% of the
company's total distribution channel, followed by broker (17%),
franchise (16%), bancassurance (11%) and telemarketing (1%).
In
terms of portfolio mix, motor forms the bulk, accounting for 54% of the
total portfolio, while fire takes about 19% share, personal accident
and health 7%, marine 4% and miscellaneous about 16%.
On the
abolition of the tariff structure for motor and fire insurance, which
is expected to take effect in 2016, he said the company was confident
it would be able to respond to the challenge.
“We have been
preparing for this (removal of the tariff) for some time back. Allianz
General is one of the few general insurers which has strong in-house
actuary capabilities.
“Many general insurers outsource actuaries
from other insurers. We hope to compete not only in pricing but also in
terms of providing value to customers as this will eventually allow us
to determine the price of a particular product in the market,” he noted.
One of the focus this year, he said, would be to roll out more retail products to meet the needs of the market.
The latest retail product Home Shield,
launched this year, is designed especially for first-time homeowners
looking for an affordable yet reliable source of protection for their
homes.