Mr. Martin Rueegg, Chief Executive Officer of AXA Insurance PCL, said that he is pleased with the results of the company despite a difficult market and stiff competition from other providers. According to the market statistics by the Thai General Insurance Association, the general insurance market grew by 1.26% in gross written premiums to 103,017 million baht as compared to the first half result of the previous year. This continues a record of sustainable outperformance by AXA as compared to the market over the past few years.
While motor remains the largest share of the market at 59,809 million baht, it is growing slower than market at 0.9% as the motor industry experiences a slowdown. Mr. Rueegg believes this will be a long term sustained trend and has focused the company on enhancing its lifestyle offerings and new channels.
Key highlights are:
For the first six months of 2015, AXA booked 1.7 billion baht of gross written premiums, a 9.2% increase over the same period last year. This ranks AXA as #18 in the insurance market as measured by gross written premium.
Online channel alone grew by 48% reflecting changing customer preferences.
Motor Insurance accounted for 803 million baht (OIC figures) this implies a 1.34% market share of the whole motor insurance market.
Non Motor Insurance accounted for 817 million baht (OIC figures) this implies a 1.89% market share of the non-motor market
Fire insurance accounted for 74 million baht (OIC figure) this implies a 1.34% market share
Marine Insurance accounted for 88 million baht (OIC figure) this implies a 3.2% market share and 654 million baht from miscellaneous insurance (1.88% market share).
Mr. Martin Rueegg added that the company's outlook is encouraging. Externally the insurance market in the second half year is expected to benefit from Government investments in large projects as well as actions to encourage consumer spending. Internally the Company is planning to expand its product range to lifestyle product.
Last week, AXA Insurance launched Smart Condo, an insurance plan focused on the real estate market. This is a first of its kind product in the Thailand market specially designed for the growing residential apartments and condominiums sector. Based on the assessment conducted by Thai Real Estate Association, condominium market's sales volume of 2015 is expected to be 148 billion baht, rising 4% from the previous year.
"Smart Condo will be the first of many products targeting a younger generation. Those so called 'Gen Y'ers value a lifestyle that caters for convenience, speed and ease of use, particularly online. This group is currently underserviced and is projected to grow rapidly. Smart Condo was design with this group in mind, so that it can be bought easily through online channels. It will cover all types of disasters that can cause damages to the property as well as the building's contents such as television, fridge, and expensive furniture etc. - all in one single policy. Premium start from just 2,256 baht per annum providing a sum insured of one million baht. The Company expects to grow the proportion of condominium insurance by more than 20-30%, and expects this to be around 10% of total portfolio after the launch of AXA Insurance Smart Condos."
Despite strong headwinds and disruptions in the overall Thai economy as well as a global economic slowdown, Martin Rueegg remains optimistic about the future. The AXA Group is strongly focused on Asia as a strategic priority as the Asia emerging growth story is still going strong. In particular the opening of the market driven by the AEC will present further opportunities to Thailand based companies as the market here is larger and more advanced than most other countries within the AEC. There is some potential to capture additional customers as the market expands from 65 million to 600 million people, especially from the neighboring countries of CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam) group that share borders with Thailand and are already familiar with Thai products.
The Thailand government is in full support to push into the AEC, particular for the CLMV countries. For example in health insurance, the Government's intends to push Thailand as a "Medical Hub" of healthcare in Asia, which will have a positive impact to many related businesses including health insurance. In some countries, Lao PDR for example, health insurance products are not readily available in the market.
"Within AXA, we are already looking into this opportunity, in particular the CLMV markets. We have recent established a partnership in Lao PDR to expand the motor insurance coverage to that country. In the future AXA aims to develop health insurance products and hope to enter as Top 5 in the insurance market."
"At home, AXA has also been busy. This year AXA has officially launched the AXA Call Center to be the central customer representative information hub to deal with enquiries, administration, servicing and claims. AXA has also launched two new branches in Nakhon Pathom province and Chachoengsao province, adding to the current 17 branches. These moves have supported the expansion of AXA's presence and will provide faster and more comprehensive service."
"What we do here in Thailand strongly reflects our values and commitment from the AXA Group towards our clients, business partners, shareholders, employees, communities and the environment. Our customer centricity charter guides us in our approach, from product design to customer interaction. This is how we have maintained our number one insurance brand for 6 consecutive years. This record is a testament that confirms our strength and reinforces our position as global leader and growing player in the Thai insurance market. With these competences, the Company believes it will achieve the goal as set and the operating performance ending this year is expected to grow beyond the insurance market's growth for sure." Mr. Martin Rueegg ended.