THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Thai Life Insurance keen on boosting non-agency channel

Thai Life Insurance keen on boosting non-agency channel

AFTER RETURNING the |life-insurance licence of |Thai Cardif Life Assurance to the regulator, Thai Life Insurance set an ambitious target for the non-agency channel of a top-five share within three years.

Thai Life acquired 100 per cent of Thai Cardif and transferred more than 400 Thai Cardif staff to Thai Life.
Thai Cardif has expertise in the business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) market, which was needed by Thai Life, whose own expertise was in the agency channel.
Thai Life wants to strengthen the non-agency channel, which, led by partnership solutions, contributes only 15 per cent of its premium income. The other 85 per cent is from the agency channel.
Kris Chantanotoke, senior executive vice president in charge of partnership solutions and bancassurance, said yesterday that in the past, marketing and products of Thai Life and Thai Cardif overlapped.
The integration will help boost flexibility, cost efficiency and the non-agency penetration rate.
About 90 per cent of non-agency premium income is from banks and the rest from non-banks, led by lease-to-own and including telemarketing.
The business direction of Thai Life will become clearer because its brand is known enough to do B2B2C, which is important for the company’s growth in the medium term.
The annual growth of B2B2C was raised from 25 per cent to 30 per cent thanks to bancassurance.
In the past three to four years, the lending activities of banks expanded tremendously, so selling insurance products, such as credit life and savings policies, via banks surged.
Even though loan growth was slower last year and B2B2C premiums were up only 8 per cent, B2B2C could turn to double-digit growth in the years ahead if the government can spend a tangible budget on infrastructure projects as scheduled.
The company wants to add five to 10 partners on top of the 30 it has now to drive premium income and increase market share in the non-agency channel.
Thai Life ranked seventh in the non-agency business last year with premium income of Bt13 billion, representing 5 per cent of the market, behind the sixth and fifth places by only 1 percentage point. 
Of its Bt262 billion in non-agency premiums, 87 per cent came through bancassurance.
“If the sixth player cannot keep up its growth, Thai Life has a good chance of beating it, because with the branding of Thai Life and more partners welcoming the open-architecture model, the company believes it can be in the top five soon,” Kris said
This year, its premium income from the partnership channel is expected to rise to Bt16 billion from Bt13 billion last year. 
 
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