Allianz Utama net income up 46% in 2003 on expansion

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Insurance company PT Allianz Utama Indonesia recorded a 46.1 percent increase in 2003 net income compared with the previous year, a company press release said on Friday.

The Indonesian unit of German insurance company Allianz AG posted net income of Rp 38.57 billion in 2003, up from Rp 26.4 billion the year before.

Allianz president director Klaus Voeste attributed the strong growth partly to the expansion of its customer base and also to investment in its distribution network.

Allianz Utama recorded significant increases in both the size of its customer base and the number of policies sold.

In 2003, the base grew by 37 percent while the number of policies issued grew by more than 40 percent, to over 53,000.

"These positive results indicate customer confidence in the company as well as better optimization of the company's multichannel distribution network," Voeste said in the release.

In order to strengthen the distribution network, Allianz increased its investment in 2003 by 45.3 percent from Rp 157.5 billion to Rp 228.7 billion.

"We successfully generated investment income of Rp 28 billion, an increase of 50.5 percent year-on-year," explained Voeste.

Premium income generated by personal lines business increased by 67 percent compared with the previous year, to Rp 50.7 billion. The company's retail portfolio now accounts for almost 10 percent of the company's gross written premium (GWP) income.

GWP was Rp 565.1 billion in 2003, a slight decrease from Rp 579.5 billion the year before.

The decline was a result of the company's decision to impose more prudent underwriting measures, which led to a decline in premium income in the corporate sector.

Voeste said the company was optimistic of achieving better growth this year and set a target GWP of Rp 650 billion for this year.

The company solvency ratio was 150 percent.

PT Asuransi Allianz Utama is Indonesia's largest joint-venture property and casualty insurance operation, with 6 branch offices and 15 points of sale nationwide.