Allianz Ayudhya sticking to protection insurance this year 

Bryan Smith, president and chief executive officer of AZAY, said that even though interest rates were expected to increase this year, they should remain at a low level in Thailand.
The low-rate environment is a key factor for protection insurance, he said, adding inflation of medical expenses, the rising number of elderly people and the low penetration in protection insurance are providing a growth opportunity for AZAY.
Only 30 per cent of the potential market access life insurance but the majority of those people don’t have protection insurance, he said.
Low interest rates in the country did not support expected returns for investors, he said.
Smith said many people who had bought savings insurance would shift to buying protection insurance.
He noted that the insurance companies were expected to shift to protection policies as well but AZAY had embraced this kind of insurance since three years ago.
“We do believe the insurance companies should not compete with banks in terms of being a return provider. We will not make a product that replies to interest rates," he said. 
Protection insurance at AZAY ranked top two, while savings insurance and endownment, which used to be the top three became top five at the company, he said.
The company believes that protection insurance premiums will this year contribute 42 per cent of its total new agency premiums, up from 39 per cent last year.
The company expects to book Bt6.5 billion in new premiums this year and gross premiums of Bt32.5 billion – with gross premiums tipped to expand by 8-10 per cent.
Based on the gross premiums target of Bt32.5 billion, Bt15 billion would be generated by the agency, Bt11 billion would be generated by bancassurance and Bt5.4 billion would come from the direct marketing channel.
Even though the company wants to expand its protection insurance more than savings insurance, the ticket size of protection insurance is smaller than the ticket size of savings insurance.
"We anticipate the premiums of protection insurance this year will grow around 22 per cent versus the expected growth of 2 per cent in premiums of savings insurance," he said.
For people who are still concentrating on a return and want to be protected from insurance, AZAY is offering Unit Link via the agency channel – with the product expected to contribute 10 per cent of the company’s new premiums portfolio.