Bupa looks to individual customers to drive growth
Bupa Health Insurance (Thailand) aims to build its premium portfolio up to Bt8 billion by 2020 from Bt2.5 billion currently, of which individual clients will be the major proportion, after the growth of the health-protection market.
Christopher Dennis, managing director of Bupa, said yesterday that its ratio of corporate to individual clients was 50:50, but by 2020, individuals would account for 90 per cent of the portfolio because of changes in the health-insurance market.
That market is worth around Bt40 billion.
In the past, Bupa has concentrated on corporate clients, but there is little scope in that sector for capitalising on the growth in demand for health insurance.
The government provides basic health insurance, and the margin from selling health policies to corporates is small, as the cost of a claim can outstrip premium income.
"We have not given up on the corporate market, but we think the individual sector will be an opportunity for us, and the network of more than 300 hospitals in Thailand ensures that we are able to accommodate the needs of individual customers," he said.
Bupa has 400,000 policyholders and by 2020, it aims to raise that number to 1 million, bringing in total premiums of Bt8 billion.
Last year, total premium income was Bt2.52 billion, up 23 per cent from Bt2.04 billion in 2013. This year, the target is Bt3 billion.
Dennis said telesales and agents were Bupa’s main sales channels, while bancassurance, under a five-year partnership with United Overseas Bank (Thai), provided a small proportion.
However, the company is co-structuring the products with UOB to make them more dynamic in order to deal with changing demands for health insurance.
"We will be more active in this [bancassurance] channel. Moreover, we will add 80 new agents, from 40 currently," he said.
Demand for health insurance is expected to grow in neighbouring countries as well, as Thai hospital chains have expanded into Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, and those hospitals are partners with Bupa.
Therefore, the first step Bupa will take to cash in on the Asean Economic Community is selling health insurance to consumers in those countries.
"We will have a presence in those countries when they have clear regulations on allowing foreign companies to set up branches," he said.
