Thai Life Insurance to use mobile payment system to boost business in the provinces
THAI LIFE Insurance will increase its focus on customers upcountry by deploying Krungsri Quick Pay from Bank of Ayudhya to help its agents sell insurance policies.
Varang Chaiyawan, a senior executive vice president, said yesterday that Krungsri Quick Pay uses mPOS technology to turn smartphones and tablets into mobile point-of-sale devices for agents.
Fifty agents have tested Krungsri Quick Pay for two months. Premiums were running at Bt2 million a month thanks to the mPOS technology, which facilitates credit card payments, she said.
The company will expand the programme to 300 mPOS units and plans to add 1,500 units next year.
Around 10 per cent of total premiums are paid by credit card and most buyers are in Bangkok rather than in the provinces.
Thai Life will try to encourage upcountry customers to pay by plastic instead of cash, as agents can close the deal quickly.
The agency channel accounts for 80 per cent of premiums, followed by bancassurance with 15 per cent and direct and telesales with 5 per cent.
Bank of Ayudhya is among Thai Life’s four to five partner banks and generates the highest premiums in the bancassurance channel.
This year, the company projects premiums of Bt45 billion, of which Bt10 billion will be first-year premiums.
BAY contributes new business of Bt2.5 billion and gross premiums of Bt4 billion.
Thakorn Piyapan, managing director of Krungsri Consumer, a consumer finance arm of BAY, said insurance transactions via Krungsri Quick Pay were the highest because of the average premium of Bt20,000.
Krungsri Quick Pay has been adopted by AIA Thailand and Thai Life Insurance and will soon be provided to Allianz Ayudhya (Thailand).
By next month Krungsri Quick Pay will be available as both iOS and Android applications.
The five-year target is 23,000 Krungsri Quick Pay users and total spending of Bt56 billion.
