Bangkok--14 Jul--Siam Commercial Bank
Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is set to launch a life and non-life insurance brokerage business through its subsidiary, SCB Protect Co., Ltd. The company is seeking to fill a market gap by focusing on value protection and insurance products covering life risks in the mass market, under a concept of “value protection by your side”. The company also seeks to offer job opportunities to young people nationwide as protection consultants taking care of customers living in their neighborhoods.
According to Ms. Poramasiri Manolamai, SCB Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Insurance Business Officer, and SCB Protect Chief Executive Officer, based on the current economic situation the overall insurance business is expected to remain stable compared to the previous year. However, drastic changes in consumer behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increasing awareness of the importance of health and financial planning and consequently increasing demands for protection. Further to SCB’s vision of becoming the nation’s “Most Admired Bank” and its aim to support sustainable financial strength among society at large, SCB is set to launch a comprehensive life and non-life insurance brokerage business through its subsidiary, SCB Protect Co., Ltd. Life and non-life insurance products are basic financial products every family should have to cover risks at different life stages, with the current protection gap in Thailand remaining rather wide.
“SCB has focused on services as the most important factor, to offer value beyond just insurance to our customers, with a health eco-system in place and more services to follow. Out of some 16 million customers, only 3% of the bank’s mass segment have insurance products. So, SCB Protect has been established to drive the bank’s mass market expansion. With advanced technology and digital tools, and our well-trained protection consultants nationwide, we are confident that SCB Protect can quickly respond to customer needs. We offer a comprehensive range of value protection products and quick and easy-to-reach after-sale service for customers seeking protection that suits their needs with the security that SCB Protect offers.”
SCB Protect focuses on four main protection products and services: life insurance, health insurance, asset protection, and savings protection, to cover every stage of financial planning – income, spending, saving, and passing the money to loved ones for everyone’s happiness at every life stage.
SCB Protect aims to have protection consultants in each tambon nationwide to truly understand pain points in each area. The main function of protection consultants is to offer life and non-life insurance plans and after-sale services with care. Protection consultants are SCB Protect’s main channel, but other channels such as digital sales and telesales will be also employed.
“During a time when lay-offs are very likely, we are employing a lot of people. We prepare our people with training and preparation for insurance broker licensing. We include technology in knowledge and development, so that our protection consultants can always answer our customers’ needs. This year we aim to have at least 500 protection consultants, and we expect to kick off business under SCB Protect by the third quarter.”
Ms. Manolamai continued by noting that SCB Protect’s key goal is to promote organized protection and savings for everyone, to ready them for any future uncertainty. Therefore, SCB Protect emphasizes customer reach first and the volume of insurance premiums from the company will be smaller than those from other SCB channels. During the early phase of protection consultant development, SCB Protect has set a monthly customer reach goal of at least 5 times the market’s average rate of some 1.7 customers per agent per month. The company is focusing on having a good system in place to support sales, service, and training so that its protect consultants are knowledgeable and understand different protection products and customer needs. SCB Protect hopes to help more customers conveniently access value protection and insurance products matching their needs, raising Thailand’s insurance access rate well above the current 30%.