Krungthai Axa adopts blue-ocean market

It plans to deal with 20 organisations this year, four of which have already agreed to join with the company.

Wichai Cheewasriruengruang, senior vice president and head of alternative distribution, said the first priority in the marketing strategy of the company was expansion of distribution channels. Because there were many competitors in the existing channels and they competed in both pricing and commission, the company would not receive good benefits from those channels.

The company will set up new distribution channels that have not been tapped previously, such as cooperation with government organisations, state enterprises and corporations that are customers of Krung Thai Bank. The bank's logo is already well known and credible among these entities, he said.

Sales staff who are also employees of these organisations will be trained to represent the company while still performing their regular work duties. Krungthai Axa will also provide them with incentives that differ from those offered by other channels. The company will also send its own staff to organisations that have a large number of employees.

"The customers don't know what they want until we tell them. Life insurance is a product that takes some effort to sell, while accident insurance can be sold easily. Therefore, we must approach the customers," Wichai said.

Krungthai Axa posted a firsthalf net profit of Bt262 million, higher than both its fullyear target of Bt240 million and last year's firsthalf net profit, which was only Bt45 million.

First-year premiums in the first half totalled Bt1.662 billion, up 151 per cent year on year. Of that, Bt688 million (41 per cent) came from bancassurance channels, Bt879 million (53 per cent) from agency channels and the rest from other channels.

The company now has more than 6,500 sales agents.