Thai insurance, tmb team up for cancer coverage

The new product comes amidst widening awareness and concern among consumers and as many life insurers have aggressively rolled out cancer policies since the beginning of the year.

Cancer continues to be the No-1 killer in Thailand. According to the latest statistics from the Public Health Ministry, in 2005, 12.8 per cent of deaths were the result of cancer or cancer-related diseases.

Thai Insurance's TMB Cancer Guard will be the first among general, non-life insurers to offer the new product as a stand-alone policy and not a rider or attachment, twinned with a built-in income protection policy, claimed Sombat Anunta from the company. He said that many cancer-insurance policies, in addition to being riders, usually do not come with income protection. The policy has coverage of Bt100,000, Bt200,000 and Bt500,000 and income protection of no more than 120 days a year for regular in-patients and no more than 30 days a year for intensive-care unit patients.

The new policy will be the second of six bancassurance products to be offered this year, and will tighten Thai Insurance's relationship with TMB Bank after the bank was acquired by the Dutch financial giant ING Group last year.

"Although we target total revenues of Bt20 million, we only expect a profit margin of 5 per cent or Bt1 million from this," said Sombat. The intention is not so much the revenue for Thai Insurance, but the expansion of the two partners' product offers.

Thai Insurance has plans for four more non-motor products to follow this year. Though some of the personal accident products might be very similar to those offered by ING Life, now an active partner within TMB Bank since the departure of Thai Life Insurance from the fold, there will be no overlapping or crossing the line, said Sombat. Still, over all, bancassurance would be an important revenue channel for Thai Insurance, he added. Bancassurance with Kiatnakin Bank is now being arranged.

Despite a sharp decline in net profit for the quarter - Bt2 million compared to Bt15.7 million last year - as a result in a drop in underwriting and higher operating expenses and income tax, Thai Insurance's performance in the first five months was "on target" and on course for the "conservative" 10-per-cent growth target, said Sombat.

Having increased its premiums, the company reported higher premiums for the period at Bt346 million, an 18.5-per-cent increase from Bt292.48 million in 2007. "It would be difficult for insurance companies not to raise their premiums with the current inflation rate," Sombat said. Motor insurance contributed Bt211.9 million, up 28 per cent, while non-motor insurance rose by 5.3 per cent to Bt134.7 million.

Thai Insurance had a net profit last year of Bt34.62 million, an increase from 25.44 million a year earlier.