Viriyah expands away from autos

Business News - Tuesday December 11, 2007

INSURANCE / DIVERSIFICATION

Viriyah expands away from autos

Charoen Kittikanya

Viriyah Insurance Co, the country's largest automobile insurer, expects its non-motor premiums to increase to between 1.1 billion an 1.2 billion baht next year from an estimated 850-900 million baht this year as it diversifies its portfolio further.

According to Prasan Nilmanat, the company's deputy managing director, the insurer would look to sell other types of coverage to its large customer base. Viriyah has a total of four million customers, 3.1 million of whom are motor insurance clients.

Viriyah last year reported total direct premiums of 13.66 billion baht, with the motor business contributing 12.97 billion baht and non-motor coverage 690 million.

Of the motor insurance business, voluntary coverage accounted for 10.73 billion baht, with the remainder from compulsory insurance.

For the first 10 months of this year, Viriyah reported total premiums of 12.9 billion baht, a rise of 10% from the same period last year, outperforming the overall industrys's growth rate of 6%.

According to Mr Prasan, the company expected to finish the year with 10% growth to about 15 billion baht, with motor insurance contributing 14 billion.

In its effort to build up the non-motor business, the company early this year recruited Anon Opaspimoltum from Thai Reinsurance Plc as a senior vice-president. Mr Anon is also the chairman of the property insurance sub-committee of the General Assurance Association.

Mr Prasan said Viriyah was also training about 20 young sales executives recruited from different provinces to study and sell new products that would be designed to match demand in the areas they serve.

"The new products will come up with simple features with relatively low premiums, as they are developed and sold by local people," he said.

Next year, he said, Viriyah also plans to develop service units along the 1,450-km road network that links Thailand, Laos, Burma and Vietnam under the the East-West Economic Corridor.

"In the future the company's insured motorists who travel through that road network could rest assured that they would have access to our services," he said.

However, Mr Prasan said Viriyah was unlikely to invest heavily in setting up offices in neighbouring countries but would rather employ local people to provide services to its clients.

By : Bangkok Post