Thailand Insurance Digital Growth

Covid19 pandemic has forced businesses across sectors to rapidly digitize as consumers are kept indoors because of government-mandated lockdowns or out of fear of contracting the coronavirus.

The trend has been keenly felt by the insurance industry, where the once-marginal digital sales channel has seen a boom in premiums, with firms holding the best online positioning reaping the greatest rewards from the new revenue stream.

New premium sales from digital channels totalled 52.1 million baht in March. Digital sales alone contributed 0.3% to total new life insurance premiums between March and June.

First-year premium payments, whereby customers pay insurance premiums annually for long-term protection, totalled 10.1 million baht each in March and April, growing to 13.3 million baht in May and 15.4 million baht in June.

In the first half of 2020, FWD Life Insurance and Allianz Ayudhya Assurance played an aggressive role in digital retail sales, sharing 45.9% and 30.6% of first-year premiums payment from digital channels, while Ocean Life Insurance held third place at 7.6%.

Another three companies, Southeast Life Insurance, Manulife Insurance Thailand (MIT) and Muang Thai Life Assurance (MTL), controlled market share of 3.1% to 3.3% each. MTL offered digital sales for both first-year premiums and single premiums, tallying 5.4% of total premiums, or second in the industry, for the first six months of the year.

Prudential Life Assurance Thailand topped the category for digital single premium sales with 126 million baht in the first half, a 91.3% market share.

Digital sales include non-complex products on company websites, social media channels (such as Line and Facebook) without insurance agents, and digital "face-to-face" sales in which agents connect to customers directly online via teleconferencing, as well as any electronic channels/devices.