LG Insurance Indonesia sells policies on the net

JAKARTA (JP): Insurance company LG Insurance Indonesia announced on Friday a new service to allow its customers to purchase insurance policies and pay the premium over the Internet.

Company director Kwang Taek Kim said the on-line sales of LG Insurance policies would be done in cooperation with listed financial company PT Sinar Mas Multiartha, which currently run Internet portal www.danamas.com.

"We believe our cyber insurance business will do very well. We expect to sell between 25,000 and 30,000 new policies through the Internet this year," he said.

Kim said Sinar Mas' Internet portal would also facilitate the sales of LG car insurance policies.

He said purchasing insurance polices over the Internet was easier and faster than through conventional-purchasing systems since customers could personally determine the favored insurance scheme, find out the amount of premium immediately and receive the policies in two days.

Sinar Mas Multiartha president Edward Hadijaya said the company's portal would be expanded to provide other on-line financial services, such as car loans, payment service, obligation and mutual funds.

He said the portal currently provided on-line sales service for insurance and stock market companies.

New portal

Meanwhile, local Internet company PT Orientasi Global Nusantara revealed on Friday its plan to launch in July a new search engine portal in association with the New York-based Internet company orientation.com.

Company president Helmy Kamal Lubis said the new portal, to be called Orientation Indonesia, would be part of orientation.com's global Internet network covering 30 countries around the world.

He said the new portal would provide various content on Indonesia, including travel information, business and compiled news from local and international publications as well as basic services like e-mail, classifieds and chat rooms.

"We will also offer service and applications on e-commerce and portal development for local corporations," he said.

Orientation Indonesia will generate revenues mostly from the e-commerce service, Helmy said, projecting the company's operations will turn a profit by the end of next year.

Marketing director of orientation.com Phil Ingram said his company expanded its business to Indonesia because it saw a huge business potential here.

He said unlike many new Internet startup firms, his company would not burn cash too long for its expansion in Indonesia since it has established the required infrastructure.

"With not a very big investment, we expect to be able to earn a decent profit by the end of this year," he said, declining to reveal the figures. (cst)