"We're doing fine this year," said president and CEO Donald Carden. "Early this year, rumours suggested that the bancassurance market was going to be bad, following the interest-rate hikes. This has proven not to be the case, largely because we have a great partner like Siam Commercial Bank (SCB)."

The company has also opted to focus consistently on long-term traditional products rather than single-premium products, health insurance or investment-linked products. As well, most of its investment portfolio is in highly rated bonds. Only 1 per cent is invested in securities in SCB's affiliate companies and 2 per cent in property.

SCNYL, the country's biggest bancassurance player in terms of market share, entered the Thai market only seven years ago. SCB and New York Life International, the biggest life insurer in the US, hold equal stakes of 47.33 per cent each.

In the early years, it focused on sales through more than 800 SCB branches, helping it quickly to leapfrog into sixth place among the industry's 24 players. It now plans to reduce the proportion of its sales made through SCB from 70 per cent to 50 per cent by 2011.

Although the Thai life-insurance market is expected to be liberalised eventually, Carden dismissed the possibility of new players entering the market.

"Thailand already has 24 life-insurance companies, and no one else is coming in," he said. "The only way anyone can come in is through an acquisition. Maybe some outsiders can do this, but even if they do, there'll still be only 24 companies. So the way I see

it, the market here is pretty well set."

He added, "It's also difficult to build on trust when the brand

and the trust are already there.

So there's no fear for any of us

that, all of a sudden, there'll be another company from outside coming in and dominating the market. It's not going to happen. That's what market share is all about. Once you have a market share, it's very difficult to lose it unless you mismanage your company."

Although many life insurers have opted to boost brand awareness through advertising or sponsoring big sporting events, he said SCNYL had no such plans. Its main sponsorship spending goes to a foundation for orphans and other social activities.

Supporting a policy of promotional spending within the local community, New York Life International chairman and CEO Joseph Gilmour said, "When you're investing in a brand, it's important to understand your target market.

Building a brand is important. But when we assess the situation here, we've got a great partner with a great brand, so spending money on what we've already got makes sense."

Gilmour revealed that one of New York Life's successful strategies is joining with partners that are key players in certain markets. If it cannot find a partner, it will acquire a major company in such a market.

For instance, in Argentina it formed a partnership with Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking.

In China, it has a joint venture with the Haier Group, while in Mexico it purchased leading Mexican life insurer Seguros Monterrey.

While many multinational companies struggle to support subsidiaries in local Asian markets, Gilmour believes local companies will always do well and sometimes dominate.

"Everywhere we go, like in India, there's one local company that dominates the market. In South Korea, there are three local companies that dominate the market. It's similar to Taiwan, where a mixture of big international companies and local companies will continue for a long time," he said.

"Here, everybody has to behave in a rational Thai manner that

is good for the consumers," Gilmour said. "The local regulator is getting stronger. That's

very important for us, because we look at the market and think, 'How are we going to invest in that market to make sure that the regulations fit the risk that we're working on?'"

Piyarat Setthasiriphaiboon

The Nation