Bangkok--6 Mar--Krungthai-AXA Life Insurance
Krungthai-AXA Life Insurance Public Company Limited’s annualised premium earned reached Bt 12.8 billion in 2013 with aggressive growth in health and protection business
David Korunic, Chief Executive Officer revealed that 2013 was another great year for the company despite the economic slowdown during the year and the political uncertainties affecting the country in the last few months of the year. The company is currently #4 in terms of new business and #5 in terms of inforce business. Many records have been broken in 2013.
He stated "After my first year at the helm of Krungthai-AXA I have been proud of the way the team have been able to deliver another year of exceptional results. I am confident that this team have the capabilities to overcome all obstacles." Tomorrow, on behalf of all staff, I will be received the award for "The Annual Best Employer Award in Employee Skill Development" from the Department of Skill Development of the Ministry of Labor which is proof point of our company’s philosophy of “Great People build Great Companies.”
A survey by the AXA group resulted in Krungthai-AXA gaining the top position in Asia and the second place in the AXA world for Corporate Responsibility. This is a sign of world class governance being in place as well as socially responsible processes being put as a high priority in everything the company does.
Nicolas Fauvarque, Chief Financial Officer stated that 2013 was a good year with a record for new business premiums which closed the year at Bt12.8 billion which represented a growth of 22% from Bt10.5 billion in 2012, with total premiums increasing by 31% to Bt37.7 billion.
The Management Expense Ratio closed the year at 6% compared to 6.4% last year reflecting world-class expense management and best in class financial controls.
Moreover, the assets under management have grown by 28% over the same period last year to end at Bt91.8 billion in 2013. Krungthai-AXA's asset split remained stable over the last year with Equities 7%, Bonds 85%, and Others 8%.
Roger Deacon, Chief Distribution Officer stated that the company's multi-distribution focus has continued to be a key success factor in the company's growth. Agency has been growing year on year with new business premiums ending the year at Bt5.4bn which reflected a growth of 19%, whereas Bancassurance achieved new business premiums of Bt6.5bn up 20% and Corporate Solutions delivered Bt0.9bn representing a growth of 81%.
Total Agency manpower was over 11,000 including both managers and agents with 79 general agency offices nationwide and Bancassurance had almost 10,000 licensed brokers providing financial advice and services through 1,162 branches across Thailand.
“Last year the insurance market could not avoid slow expansion due to the economic slowdown and political instabilities, however Krungthai-AXA's distribution channels still performed exceptionally well with great support from the Krungthai-AXA Academy. Currently we have 4 academies to provide a “Cradle to Grave” training platform to distributors located in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, and Hadyai. In May 2014 we plan to open a new Academy in Surat Thani province to serve the increasing number of sales forces and it proves our commitment to providing best career, best compensation and best support. In addition, it helps to build high quality sales people and also to maximise sales growth by increasing the productivity of our distributors through professional advice based selling training programmes which improves the satisfaction of our customers. In January this year the company announced the appointment of 2 senior executives which are Mr. Pornsak Suwannatup as Chief Agency Officer to lead the Agency channel which is one of the major distribution channels that has brought continuous growth to Krungthai-AXA. Also, Mr. Vithaya Charnpanich to be Chief Distributor Advisor to bring more focus to all distribution channels. Mr. Vithaya’s past experiences will be used to drive important projects across distribution. People and business development continues to be a key priority and we believe this change will enable our business to maximise the opportunities that exist within Thailand”, said Deacon.
Saifon Sutchasila, Chief Marketing Officer added that in terms of the marketing perspective, this year we will focus on:
Offering highly competitive health and protection products that are differentiated from our competitors. In January, the company launched its new health rider called “Perfect health Solution” which has received very positive feedback from both distributors and customers. By the 2nd quarter, the company will introduce an investment product and new health and protection product offering additional family benefits to further expand our health and protection business.
Continue providing 52 Caravan Health Check services throughout Thailand. In 2013, the company held 50 events, servicing more than 40,000 people with Bt0.5bn in new businesses generated.
Continue building our customer-centric ecosystem along the customer journey and customer segmentation initiatives to increase customer values.
Continue giving opportunity to build a stronger and safer society. Many more projects will be introduced such as providing financial education for the young generation to better prepare for their futures, giving opportunity to people in local communities to build sustainable careers and income in collaboration with the Royal Development projects, risk prevention research and education to help preserve the environment in the communities we work with and enhancing our caravan health checks to Thai children via school networks.
David Korunic, Chief Executive Officer stated that for the key strategic priorities in 2014 the company will continue to operate business with a strong emphasis on talent development under the company's philosophy of “Great People build Great Companies”, continue to focus on our core competencies and competitive advantages in our multi-distribution channels, and keep building successful marketing strategies and being the customer-centric company through customer experience management initiatives, cross-selling and up-selling campaigns.
Besides the above strategies, the company has also put greater focus on:
Becoming the health and protection leader in the market by enhancing and maximising the product mix of health and protection along with investment products to fit with customer needs.
Leveraging Technology to increase value to Krungthai-AXA Life’s policyholders, distributor and staff. The e-services project includes e-financial need analysis, e-sale illustration, and e-payments. These applications will be launched in the next few months. As a second phase the ambition is to have the bulk of new policies issued on the spot.
Driving corporate responsibility to cover all major pillars including Shareholder, Customers, Employees, Suppliers, Community and the Environment. AXA globally is a leader in risk identification, research and education. This is conducted through the AXA Research fund that the AXA group has funded to the extent of €100m since 2008. And has just committed a further €100m to be spent over the next 5 years.
“Despite the political uncertainty, the overall outlook for the year remains slightly positive with growthpotential and I have an optimistic view on the investment markets rebounding. The current insurancepenetration rate in Thailand is 30% and this demonstrates the growth potential as the market becomesmore savvy. This year, we will see more of a shift from short term savings to health and protections andthen a further move to investment linked products especially for the affluent and high-net-worth segments.
In summary 2013 was a good year for the growth and development of Krungthai-AXA and I am sure that with the support of the back office and front office teams that we can make 2014 another year of success”, said Korunic.
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