As population ages, BLA to focus on pension insurance
Bangkok Life Assurance will focus more on pension insurance as it aims to boost the proportion of premium income from this source to 10 per cent of the total within three years, from less than 1 per cent currently.
Chone Sophonpanich, president of BLA, pointed to a study by Chulalongkorn University that found people were living longer. The average life expectancy of Thai females in 2030 will be 81 years, up from 78 in 2010, while that for males will be 74, up from 71, it predicts.
Retired people in 2030 are expected to account for 25 per cent of the population, up from 12.3 per cent in 2010, according to the same study.
The contribution of pension insurance last year was only 0.7 per cent of BLA’s total life-insurance premiums of Bt443.23 billion, but the rising number of elderly people provides an opportunity for the company to ride the trend, Chone said.
Ruangsak Panyabodegun, senior executive vice president for marketing, said the company had launched BLA Unit Pension, which aimed to tap white-collar workers with monthly incomes of Bt20,000 and above.
“This segment is among the 2 million people who paid income tax, and this kind of customer is looking for pension insurance that they can afford,” he said.
BLA Unit Pension helps customers plan their retirement finances. A customer is required to buy at least two units and can buy more in the future. The amount of units depends on their assumption of the expenses they will face when they are retired.
The company will be more active in pension insurance next year but it wants to test the market with this product.
It expects to sell 5,000 policies, representing premiums of Bt100 million, during the final two months of this year.
Savings insurance accounts for 45 per cent of BLA’s total premium income, followed by whole life insurance at 35 per cent.
