ING Life to double sales effort
With first-year premiums received missing its target by 5 per cent, ING Life, the country's eight-largest life insurer, is urging its sales representatives to double their workload.
The firm plans to send its agent force to train in Kuala Lumpur following ING's success in Malaysia, where the insurance market has almost run out of room.In the first quarter, the Thai unit had Bt314 million in first-year premiums (FYP), or a 30-per-cent increase compared to the same period last year. The firm has retained its yearly target of Bt1.8 billion in FYP. "Growth was five per cent short of target," said Somphot Keitkraival, senior executive vice president and chief agency officer. "This is due to the sluggish economic situation. We don't have any bank to fully support the bancassurance channel, so our agent force is our main key to generate premiums. Normally, an agent can close one case out of the four target customers he approaches. Now, they may need to work harder. Probably they need to go out for six to seven target customers just to close one case." Somphot added that in the third quarter ING would send its Thai sales representatives to train at the firm's regional headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. "Malaysia has a population of 24 million and 26 life insurers," he said. "Of the total population, 30 per cent are Malaysian Chinese. Now around 5 million of them already possesses insurance policies. Following the Islamic religion, Muslim Malay people can buy only specially designed life-insurance coverage. So, Thailand has a larger market. As ING is the fourth-largest insurer in Malaysia, we aim to achieve similar success here." The firm hopes that ING Group's US$400-million (Bt14 billion) three-year title-sponsorship with reigning Formula One champions Renault will increase brand awareness, as it did in Malaysia.
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