Allianz Ayudhya outlines strategies to maintain growth momentum despite challenges

Bryan Smith, president and chief executive officer, Allianz Ayudhya Assurance, said that with the ongoing digital transformation driving customer service and our focus on protection solutions for our customers, "we are confident that Allianz Ayudhya will maintain its customer satisfaction leadership for another consecutive year".
He said that despite the economic slowdown last year, Allianz Ayudhya performed well in many aspects.
The company last year generated Gross Written Premium (GWP) of Bt32 billion. Total Annualised New Premium (ANP) was Bt5.97 billion, growing 15 per cent.
The Agency channel was the main premium contributor and achieved the strongest results in a decade with ANP of Bt2.383 billion and growth of 20 per cent.
Bancassurance posted ANP of Bt1.399 billion, growing 6 per cent. Direct Marketing remained No 1 in the market for the 11th consecutive year with ANP Bt1.934 billion, a jump of 18 per cent in the year.
Health and protection remain its core products. Last year it established a Health Profit Centre for the company which generated ANP Bt2.045 billion and a growth of 18 per cent year on year, against a market growth of 10 per cent.
Allianz Ayudhya successfully embarked on digital transformation by using technology to uplift services and accelerate turnaround time to its partners and policyholders, he added.
One significant innovation was the implementation of a Straight Through Process System (STP) allowing policies to be issued to customers within five minutes.
Its partnership with the premier health network at BDMS included the use of API's (Application programming interfaces) allowing real-time data transfer that significantly reduced the outpatient claim process from 30 minutes to less than three minutes.
"We also saw the adoption of our agency sales tool – AZD (Allianz Discover) to be used by 76 per cent of our agents. AZD now allows agents to submit applications anywhere, anytime and this paperless system supports our direction towards sustainability," Smith said.
In terms of customer satisfaction, based on the NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey conducted by a third-party research agency, Allianz Ayudhya is ranked as No 1 in the life insurance market in Thailand with a score of 18.1 points, against a market average at 13.7 points.
"Despite a successful in 2019, this year we have already noticed many challenges. These include digital disruption, the low interest rate environment and the economic slowdown, especially the impact from the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19. To ensure that we maintain our strong growth, Allianz Ayudhya's strategies remain very focused:
Digitalization: Digital transformation will continue, Smith said. "Adoption rates of Allianz Discover by agents are expected to reach 100 per cent. Our partnership with BDMS will be extended to cover inpatient claims and allow a dramatic reduction in processing times for customers checking out from the hospital. We also plan to grow our Healthy Living community to reach 180,000 members this year."
Protection leadership: Health products remain our core focus, he said. "Leveraging from our partnership with BDMS, we plan to grow the co-developed My First Class portfolio by 40 per cent. This is in line with the need for protection in Thailand with less than 10 per cent of people covered by health insurance at this time. For the agency channel, we plan to have health riders increase to 42 per cent of all sales. Finally, in the next two weeks, Allianz Ayudhya will launch a new health product which we feel will be very popular in our market."
Strong multi-distribution channel. For agency, they expect to recruit 6,000 new agents in 2020, he said, adding their new Health Profit Centre will help to drive the growth of health, with agency as the key channel for driving protection offerings.