Malaysia Life Insurance Saturated

Allianz Bhd expects to form up to 10 partnerships this year in order to diversify its digital offerings and expand its business in Asia.

Regional CEO of Allianz in Asia-Pacific, George Sartorel, said while Asia is projected to be the largest insurance market in the world by 2020, he noted that the growth going forward was via digital innovation and partnerships.

The group has forged 16 partnerships in Asia over the past 18 months, with three based in Malaysia.

Speaking at a media roundtable, Sartorel said Asia’s insurance market was expected to experience a double-digit growth, with life and non-life insurance business growing up to 15% per annum for the next 15 years.

“That said, we are keen to double the size of our franchise by 2020 in Asia and we are well on track to achieve this,” Sartorel said.

“A rapid growth in digital is seen here in Asia, growing at a faster phase than Europe and the United States.

“Innovation has taken place in Asia on mobile, product development and social media, which is why we firmly believe that the insurance business model of the future will be built right here in Malaysia,” he added.

Although Malaysia’s insurance market is saturated and mature, he opined that the industry is growing at a decent rate of about 6%.

“Consumer behaviour and landscape are changing rapidly, with a lot of the transformation being led by digital.

“We also see potential for small and medium enterprises driving the growth of the business,” said Sartorel.

Allianz’s partnerships in Asia include with Uber in Indonesia, ParkEasy (a Malaysian start-up that provides easy, safe and insured parking) and Speedrent, which offers homeowners protection.

Additionally, Sartorel said Allianz’s investments in new businesses included a digital science lab in Singapore, apart from venturing into small-ticket insurance partnerships that provided access to new markets.

“With the investments in technology, people and parnerships in Asia, I am confident that Allianz will be stronger, going forward,” Sartorel added.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2017, Allianz Malaysia posted a net profit of RM67.17mil compared with RM73.18mil a year ago, against a higher revenue of RM1.21bil from RM1.17bil previously.

Its total total assets increased 9.5% to RM14.91mil in 2016 from RM13.62mil in 2015.

In a challenging operating landscape, the company, which has a market value of RM2.47bil, saw a 1.2% increase in gross written premiums to RM4.18bil from RM4.13bil in financial year 2015.

Meanwhile, annualised new premiums were up 5.9% to RM392.5mil in 2016 from RM370.7mil in 2015, driven by agency and bancassurance channels.