Allianz spreads its wings across Asia
Allianz spreads its wings across Asia
The insurance industry, like other financial sectors, is facing challenging times.
Allianz has made a commitment to Asia. This year, it launched a joint venture in the Philippines, assumed a 25 percent stake in Brunei's largest insurer NIC and injected fresh capital into its Indonesian life joint-venture. There is also the recent appointment of Michael Diekmann, currently CEO of Allianz in Asia-Pacific, to the Board of Allianz AG. "Clearly, the Allianz Group's financial strength is a competitive advantage in these difficult times as all clients are increasingly looking for first-class security," Diekmann said.
Most of its infrastructure projects are going ahead, such as the Kowloon Canton Railway in Hong Kong, Mass Rapid Transits in Singapore and Bangkok and a 2,000 megawatt power plant in Malaysia.
Allianz's strategy in Asia-Pacific has been based on six main goals: Increase brand awareness; develop its position as a leading industrial insurer; establish life and health business; improve market penetration for personal and commercial business lines and expand asset management activities.
It has built up a quality network mostly from scratch to ensure there is a state-of-the-art platform for future expansion.
The encouraging parameters on which Allianz has based its strategy are unchanged: high savings rate, growing middle class, increasing educational needs and the need for old age provisions, private health coverage and funding of necessary infrastructure.
Since last June, PT Asuransi Allianz Utama Indonesia has paid Rp 12 billion from total May riot policies of about Rp 50 billion. Allianz's customer-friendly policy procedure ensured payments were made quickly, even when the original policy was lost.
The Allianz nonlife company, together with its Life and Health company in Indonesia, will soon establish the Allianz Care Foundation, with an initial fund of Rp 1 billion.
Its main activity will be to help people who are unable to pay for health care, further proof Allianz cares about Asia.