Former ING unit FWD Life seeks new bancassurance partners

ING Group, a Netherlands-based banking and financial-services corporation, last year sold ING Life Insurance’s operations in Thailand, Macau and Hong Kong to PCG.

FWD currently has two partners, TMB Bank and Krungthai Leasing. But the insurer wants to expand its partnership network to include affiliates of financial houses, said chief marketing officer Aman Kapoor.

He said the company was focusing on credit life insurance, a type of policy offered to borrowers and designed so that the loan will be paid off in full in the event of death. This segment has room to grow in line with the lending growth, FWD believes.

He said the company would also improve four life-insurance products to comply with its customer-centric strategy. The four categories are health, wealth, retirement and educational.

The rising proportion of elderly people in Thailand is an opportunity for these four products as people want to ensure wealth and security in their retirement. 

Michael Plaxton, chief executive officer of FWD Life Insurance, said the firm would maintain its protection of TMB customers even after its contract with the bank expires in five years. 

Poolap Penkitti, chief bancassurance officer, said the company was looking to offer credit insurance to partners in the auto, housing and SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) lending business.

Chief financial officer Bob Wouters said that even after the change in ownership, policyholders could be confident in its products and protection, as proved by the high persistency rate and the financial figures in the first six months of the year. FWD’s premium income grew by 18 per cent to Bt5.7 billion compared with the same period in 2012.

Most premium income came via bancassurance, followed by agents and telesales.

Poolap noted that in terms of first-year premiums, bancassurance generated 60 per cent.

He added that since bancassurance was a key channel for FWD, the company was in talks with some banks to reinforce it.