Is term life insurance recommended. KSK Insurance aims to join top 10 non-life insurance companies in Thailand

The new chief of Malaysian-owned KSK Insurance (Thailand) says he will push the company into the top 10 non-life insurance companies in Thailand by focusing on the four pillars of success: technology, branches, people and products.

Pongpanu Damrongsiri joined KSK Insurance (Thailand) in January and before that he was chief agency officer at Allianz Ayudhya Life Insurance. He has worked in the insurance industry for 26 years. Top 10 life insurance companies.

Of the four pillars, he said, technology is the key because of the importance of operational cost efficiency amid fierce competition.

KSK developed the e-Cover Online Insurance Portal last year as its front-end system to help its agents to sell motor insurance. The company will expand this portal to non-motor insurance as it hopes to increase premium income from this segment in the near future.

KSK’s nine branches will be revamped into a modern style to help the company keep pace with technological developments as it launches new innovative products, he said.

Those products comprise the Elephant Protection policy and the SME package policy, he said. The company will focus on tapping small and medium-sized enterprises, which it defines as businesses with total assets of Bt30 million.

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"Next year, the company will become active in health and personal accident insurance in the SME segment. It will develop individually tailored solutions from the holistic point of view and the view of owners," he said.

KSK plans to drive premium income from non-motor insurance to 30 per cent of the total in the next few years from the current 20 per cent. By next year, non-motor income should climb to 28 per cent.

Pongpanu is the third chief executive of KSK Insurance (Thailand) since the KSK Group began its foray into the Thai insurance market in August 2011, when it acquired Asia Dynamic Insurance via Malaysian firm Kurnia Damai.

The Malaysia-based KSK Group, formerly known as Kurnia Asia, earlier said it planned an aggressive expansion in Thailand via organic and inorganic growth strategies to secure a top-10 spot in the insurance industry.

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Its current ranking is 36 out of 61 non-life companies in Thailand.

The company expects its premium income this year to grow by 1-2 per cent to Bt1.2 billion and in 2016, it is expected to reach Bt1.7 billion.

KSK has not changed its target to reach the top 10 and its parent company is ready to provide financial support, he said, but its capital adequacy ratio of 170.50 per cent is sufficient to serve future growth.

Cindy Kua, executive director of KSK Group, said the group wanted to concentrate its insurance business in Thailand and Indonesia after selling its insurance business in Malaysia.

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Internal fundamentals should be stronger for the Thai unit, she said, and the company hopes the new CEO can propel KSK Insurance (Thailand) into the top 10.

In Malaysia, the KSK Group focuses entirely on the property business, and it might consider investing in this business in Thailand to establish synergy with its insurance unit.