SCB to up focus on corporate credit insurance

Adisorn Sermchaiwong, executive vice president of the Savings and Investment Products Division at SCB, said the sharp rise in retail bancassurance business was expected to continue this month and next. The segment normally grows by 30-40 per cent annually.

The bank will likely generate about Bt6 billion in first-year life bancassurance premiums this year, while last year it achieved only Bt4 billion.

"More people are concerned about saving during the economic crisis, but the savings rate is very low at 0.75 per cent. Besides, there is a variety of life-assurance products in the market, such as paying premiums for a short term but getting medium- and long-term protection with cash back along the way," Adisorn said.

These factors are believed to have contributed to the growth in life bancassurance this year.

He said next year the bank would increasingly focus on corporate customers such as owners of small and medium-sized businesses by introducing life credit insurance, which would cover the debt burden in the event of the policyholder dying.

One of SCB's rivals has already begun to concentrate on this market.

Retail insurance products will also be launched continuously after the bank received good feedback from customers over its Debit Plus Card, which combines personal accident protection with normal debit-card facilities.

SCB issued 100,000 of the cards within the first month, 50 per cent of them already debit or ATM cardholders of the bank.

The bank therefore plans to launch more bundled products next year, such as credit and debit cards linked to health protection.

SCB is studying whether to launch a product similar to the Debit Plus Card, but instead of covering personal accident, it would cover medical expenses of up to Bt1,500 a time for a maximum of 30 occasions per year. The annual premium would be Bt7,000.

Regarding non-life bancassurance, SCB expects 2010 first-year premium growth of 40-50 per cent, while this year it is likely to expand by only 10 per cent