SCSMG seeks to boost retail base for car, health insurance
Siam Commercial Samaggi Insurance (SCSMG) will focus more on class 2-plus motor insurance and health insurance, in an attempt to expand the number of retail clients and boost its margins.
Wachira Chuaychoo, senior executive vice president, said the company would expand its retail customer base for both motor and non-motor insurance. For the former, it will partner with brokerages to promote class 2-plus insurance strongly, which covers natural disasters including floods.
He said SCSMG experienced a lower loss ratio from class 2-plus and 3-plus insurance than from first-class insurance, so if the company can capture these segments, its margin will be improved. The lower premiums of these two classes attract vehicle owners.
The company is more interested in class 2-plus than 3-plus because the premium gap is only Bt1,000, while the protection 2-plus offers is of higher value. The proportion of customers opting for this class of insurance is growing quickly, and many insurers are also capturing the market to cash in on the trend, he added.
“We and brokerage agents will offer promotions for class 2-plus insurance to encourage clients. We project the proportion of premiums from this kind of insurance to be no less than 30 per cent, while those from first-class insurance will decline to 60 per cent from 70 per cent,” he said.
To expand its retail customer base in non-motor insurance, SCSMG will for the first time tap the health-insurance market, for which products will be officially launched next year.
Health insurance is the choice of people who are concerned about their health while medical expenses are high, he said.
Providing health insurance is not easy, and the premiums are regarded as high because the compensation claims are high, especially from outpatients.
“We are considering whether our health insurance should cover outpatients or not, and this will influence the premiums as well,” Wachira said.
The company projects that health insurance will contribute premiums of Bt200 million to Bt300 million in the first year.
SCSMG this year expects total premiums will reach Bt4.4 billion, an increase of 15 per cent from last year.
The company reported to the Stock Exchange of Thailand last Friday that its written premiums in the first nine months were Bt3.12 billion, up by 19 per cent year on year.
Net profit in the first nine months dropped to Bt198.05 billion from Bt237.95 million because of the high expenses of underwriting the flood disaster in 2011.
