Krungthai-AXA banks on protection, health
KRUNGTHAI-AXA Life Insurance’s annualised premium income reached Bt14.9 billion in 2015, with significant growth in its protection and health business, said chief executive David Korunic.
He said 2015 “was another great year for the company, and I’m very pleased to announce that we are currently ranked No 3 in the industry in terms of new business premiums and No 5 in terms of in-force premiums”.
“Despite the economic slowdown throughout 2015, the company’s multi-distribution channels still contributed significantly to its performance, with the focus on health and protection business. We also implemented many new digital initiatives to support customers’ demands and provided greater contributions to distributors,” he said.
The company has also announced key executive appointments, including Poramasiri Manolamai as chief distribution officer, who will be responsible for the development and sales of all three distribution channels – bancassurance, agency, and corporate solutions. She has replaced Roger Deacon, who will take on the new role of special adviser to the CEO to guide and support the company on specific projects.
In addition, Franck Baron has joined the executive committee in the position of chief transformation and strategy officer. He joins Krungthai-AXA Life from AXA Group Solutions in Paris.
Satoshi Nagano, chief financial officer, said the company reported Bt14.8 billion in first-year premiums, while total premiums increased 12 per cent to Bt54.7 billion.
The company’s investment portfolio remained relatively stable with equities accounting for 6 per cent, government bonds 87 per cent, short-term 1 per cent, and other at 6 per cent.
Poramasiri Manolamai said the bancassurance channel delivered first-year premiums of Bt8,247 million or 56 per cent of total new premium income, whereas the agency channel generated Bt6,441 million or 43 per cent.
The corporate-solutions channel generated Bt185 million.
The company’s commitment to the development of its distribution resources continued through its five academies in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Surat Thani and Hat Yai.
The company also upgraded its digital technology for its sales force to provide better accessibility for customers. It launched iConnect Life and iPro for its distributors; iConnect Life is a system distributors can use during the sales process to provide professional advice and services to our customers.
With iPro, distributors will be able to manage their sales activities, performance and customer contacts on their mobile phones or tablets. The company believes these two systems will help its distributors achieve another level of professionalism and result in higher customer satisfaction when dealing with Krungthai-AXA.
The first Krungthai-AXA Fairs are being held, where distributors can meet with new and existing customers.
The fairs are being held in four key provinces across Thailand and showcase all of the company’s products and services. The first event took place on February 22 at Siam Paragon in Bangkok, and the remaining events will take place this Saturday in Chiang Mai, on March 26 in Khon Kaen, and April 30 in Hat Yai.
Saifon Sutchasila, chief marketing officer, said the Thai life-insurance market was expected to be very competitive in the health and protection space in the coming years because of higher medical costs and customers becoming more aware of the importance of life and health insurance.
