SEG aims to take its insurance firms into top three

Chotiphat Bijananda, chairman of the executive board of SEG, said yesterday that SEG consisted of three companies. Its non-life company is Southeast Insurance, the second is Southeast Life, and the third is Southeast Capital, a leasing firm. Combined assets are Bt47 billion.
Southeast Capital is in the top three in the leasing business, but the two insurance units are not ranked that high at present. SEG aims to change that.
Last year, the ranking of Southeast Insurance climbed to eighth from 12th, while Southeast Life Insurance rose to 12th from 13th.
Total premium income of Southeast Insurance in 2015 surged by 29.4 per cent to Bt6.1 billion. New premiums grew by 15 per cent, while the non-life market grew by only 0.5 per cent. The company this year is projected to post new-premium growth of more than 15 per cent by adding a single-premium product, Chotiphat said.
He said low interest rates were supporting the adoption of a single-premium insurance product to cater to investors looking for higher returns on their savings than they could get from banks.
SEG has set a clear business direction to become a financial group that offers products and services to the network of TCC Group and SEG business partners, he said.
This strategy is expected to provide growth to SEG both inside and outside the country, as TCC Group has expanded its business in the region.
TCC has a footprint in Vietnam but that country does not allow foreign insurance companies to underwrite assets directly. However, SEG can act as a manager to seek local insurers to do so.
Another example of the win-win strategy is Southeast Insurance becoming the underwriter of the total assets of Big C Supercenter after TCC became the major shareholder in the retail company, he added.
Premium income from underwriting Big C in Thailand is around Bt200 million a year.
For Southeast Insurance alone, the group projects growth of more than 30 per cent in premium income because this company has much room to grow in supporting the TCC network and business partners of SEG itself, including a new digital channel, which will be officially launched on May 1.
SEG has injected Bt1 billion to revamp its information-technology infrastructure to improve claim services and to develop the new digital channel.
Thanks to its wide-ranging network of clients, SEG can offer tailor-made products and services without worrying about economic circumstances and the purchasing power of consumers, Chotiphat said.
“With the win-win strategy and the concept of growing together with our partners, we believe SEG will shift from being the smallest revenue generator in the TCC Group to a meaningful revenue generator in the future,” he said.
He said SEG was interested in having a presence in Asean following the business expansion of TCC Group, but this would depend on the regulations in each country.
“We are talking with partners in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to explore insurance business opportunities,” he said.