Print

Mail

wiki links

ING Antai plans to shift its focus

ING Antai (ING安泰人壽), the nation's fourth-largest life insurer, yesterday said it will place greater emphasis on wealth management and pension programs to satisfy customers' needs.

Based on insurance developments in Australia over the past 10 to 15 years, the company foresees great potential in these two segments here as the population is aging, John Wylie, ING Antai's incoming chief executive officer, said at a press briefing.

Wylie, currently regional general manager of ING Asia Pacific, is expected to replace CEO Chan Pi-yao (陳丕耀) after Chan's term expires at the end of this month.

Wylie said that as major policyholder needs have shifted from life insurance to savings, and will turn to asset and wealth management in the near future, the company plans to explore the market.

ING Antai last year collected NT$27.8 billion (US$855.8 million) in new insurance premiums, up 53 percent from NT$18.2 billion in 2004. Total premiums collected from its 3 million policyholders last year surpassed NT$100 billion.

New premium revenues this year could reach NT$30 billion as the company plans to strengthen bancassurance (a combination of banking and insurance services) and agents' operations.

ING Antai, however, has no plans to invest in local lenders, unlike New York Life International, which invested US$20 million to secure a 5 percent stockholding in the Bank of Overseas Chinese (華僑銀行), said Patrick Poon (潘燊昌), CEO for the Greater China Region and president and chairman of the ING Life Insurance Company of America.

"I think forming strategic alliances with more banks, instead of just one, would be more effective to promote bancassurance," he said.

New York Life Insurance Taiwan Corp, a subsidiary of New York Life International, said significant synergies were created after it allied with the Bank of Overseas Chinese in October last year.

Within three months, New York Life raked in NT$300 million in revenues via bancassurance, Dan Ting (鄭林經), president and chief executive officer, said at another press conference yesterday.

He added that the company has recently launched a telemarketing campaign with the bank.

New York Life expects to post 33 percent growth year-on-year in new insurance premiums this year, driven by enhanced efforts to promote investment-type insurance policies and "participating policies," under which policyholders are eligible to receive dividends from the company.

New York Life plans to become one of the nation's top five overseas insurers within the next three to five years, Ting said.
This story has been viewed 2083 times.