BKI to delve into more non-motor products

Chairman and chief executive officer Chai Sophonpanich said recently that the company wanted to increase its focus on personal-accident, health and mortgage-related insurance products such as fire insurance, as these currently contributed only 7-8 per cent of its premium income.

BKI targets total premium income of Bt18.2 billion this year, up by 10-12 per cent from 2014. Chai said individual motor insurance contributed 41-42 per cent to BKI’s income but the pricing war in this category resulted in low margins. Therefore, the company should diversify its portfolio into other segments with higher margins. 

Bancassurance through Bangkok Bank branches will be BKI’s main channel to handle this diversification in the near future. For overall sales, brokerages and telemarketing are the main channels.

BKI executive vice president Apisit Anantanatarat, who in charge of individual insurance, said growth in personal accident and health insurance in Thailand was regarded as having matured, because many insurers have focused on these policies. 

The company has asked the Immigration Bureau for permission to offer personal accident insurance for Myanmar migrants at border provinces. The premiums would be low but the numbers of migrants are high enough to make this feasible. BKI is also dealing with Thai International Airways on offering personal accident insurance to its passengers.

Even though the company is attempting to diversify its portfolio, motor insurance will remain an important segment. It targets car-insurance premiums this year of Bt8 billion, up by 14 per cent from 2014.

“BKI does not have a policy of using pricing as a strategy to attract customers,” he said. “We will concentrate on policy renewals and the upper market segment.” 

Apisit said the current low fuel prices were encouraging people who purchased vehicles under the previous elected government’s first-car scheme to resume using those vehicles.