Bangkok--2 May--Thanachart Insurance
Thanachart Group penetrates insurance industry, aiming at making its insurance company one of Thailand’s top ten by 2007. This year, Thanachart Insurance Company joins hands with Transamerica Direct Marketing Asia Pacific to offer telemarketing services. It is expected that, by the yearend, direct premiums generated from the telemarketing will amount to at least 100 million baht, compared to the company’s annual target of 2,300 million baht in total premiums.
Mr.Nophadon Ruengchinda, Managing Director of Thanachart Insurance Co, said that his company is pursuing a more aggressive expansion policy. It is determined to become a leading company in the insurance industry with its preparedness to give its clients quality services on a par with international standards. It intends to become one of the country’s top ten insurance companies by 2007.
The company plans to boost its business through phone sales, targeting at Thanachart Group’s client base of over 700,000 customers. As part of its marketing activities this year, the company joins hands with its business alliance, Transamerica Direct Marketing Asia Pacific, which specializes in telemarketing, to jointly develop insurance business through phone sales. Transamerica is a member company of AEGON Group which is a large-scale holding company ranking among the world’s top ten insurance business conglomerates. Thanachart Insurance Co is confident that, with the co-operation with the world-class leader in telemarketing like Transamerica, the company will be able to develop its telemarketing business rapidly. It aims to achieve a target of at least 100 million baht in direct premiums through telemarketing services by the end of this year.
Mr. Nophpadon said that the co-operation between Thanachart Insurance Co and Transamerica will greatly help Thanachart Group accomplish the established growth target. Importantly, the co-operation serves as a business model which the Group will use in forming strategic alliances with its other foreign partners in pursuing further growth. The co-operation does not require cross-shareholding. Instead, it focuses on each party’s strengths, such as the integration of Thanachart Insurance Co’s insightful understanding of consumer needs with Transamerica’s advanced technology and ability to design products that meet those needs. Such integration will significantly enhance the Group’s potential in achieving the higher service standards than those of its competitors in a more efficiently manner.
The year 2005 was a very successful one for Thanachart Insurance Co whose performance surpassed its established targets. Its direct premiums grew to over 1,500 million baht, representing a growth of 50 percent from the year 2004. With the impressive growth, its ranking in the insurance industry rapidly moved from 26th to 18th in a period of just one year. If compared only in term of automobile insurance, the company’s performance was possibly ranked among top ten in the industry. In 2005, the company’s net profit was about 65 million baht, representing a return on equity (ROE) of over 14 percent.
For 2006, Thanachart Insurance Co aims to achieve the same growth of about 50 percent as in the previous year. In comparison, Thai Reinsurance Public Co estimates that the growth of the insurance industry in 2006 will not exceed 13 percent. Thanachart Insurance Co expects that its direct premiums in 2006 will amount to over 2,300 million baht. The company has expanded its network in parallel with that of Thanachart Bank which succeeds in rapidly opening new branches to cover the whole country. As a result, the company is confident that the combined efforts and the common goals among members of Thanachart Group will enable the company to accomplish the established target without much difficulty.