AXA AFFIN Life In Kota Kinabalu

The outlook for the financial services industry, particularly in the insurance sector, is positive as Malaysia's increasing population and rising disposable income will result in more people requiring financial services.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Yee Moh Chai, said this was evident from last year's finance and insurance sector growth rate of 5.9 per cent, which was higher than the national gross domestic product of 5.1 per cent. Yee, who is also State Minister of Human Resource Development and Information Technology, said this was due to the strong performance in bank lending and the increase in premiums in the insurance sector.
"There is no doubt that this sector is steadily growing and hopefully would increase the penetration rate especially in the general insurance sector," he said at the opening of AXA Affin Life Insurance Bhd's branch here today.  He said while competition was tough, relatively low penetration has created plenty of space for growth as the state's economy entered a vital phase of development.

"With the thriving property segment and development in major areas in Sabah, the property and land insurance are set to grow significantly in the next few years. "The recently-announced foreign workers' insurance being enforced in Sabah would further stimulate the growth in the medical segment," he said.

Earlier, chief executive officer of AXA Affin Life Insurance, Loke Kah Meng, said currently the company has over 1,400 agents nationwide. "The company will continue to further grow the force to 2,600 agents by next year to better serve the customers," he said.