Allianz Malaysia to focus on value creation for 2023

Allianz Malaysia Bhd (Allianz Malaysia) will focus on value creation for its life insurance and general insurance operations this year, with key initiatives under three strategic pillars – growth, margin expansion and capital efficiency, said Allianz Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd (Allianz Life) CEO Charles Ong.

“Number one is growth, we still want to expand our agency. We want to intensify our recruitment, (encourage) our agents to adopt digital usage, expand our bancassurance partnership with (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp Ltd) HSBC and employee benefits is also another area,” Ong told reporters during a press conference after Allianz’s 49th AGM today.

On margin expansion, the group aims to enhance its returns such as improving pricing, underwriting and claims processes as well as managing its investment portfolio.

“We want to ensure that we continue to sell our portfolio, with strong margins. Protection business is one of them and we want to encourage our agents to sell more protection riders. This will give our customers a comprehensive insurance coverage,” said Ong.

The group consistently seeks ways to effectively deploy its capital, which entails allocating resources into innovative and capital-efficient business models and solutions.

Allianz Malaysia CEO Sean Wang said that going into 2023, it noted that certain sectors of the economy have recovered while others continue to gain upward momentum.

“We expect the business of Allianz General to grow in tandem with domestic product growth as we continue to carry out the delivery of products and services that address the needs of our customers,” he said.

For the life business, he said the group foresees Allianz Life performing well and restoring growth on the back of its strong distribution channels and products.

The group recorded RM6.02 billion in gross written premiums for financial year 2022, 5.8% growth compared with RM5.69 billion in FY21.

For its first quarter ended March 31, 2023, the insurer’s net profit increased 14.71% to RM172.69 million compared with RM150.54 million in its corresponding quarter in the previous year. Revenue rose 9.24% to RM1.16 billion from RM1.06 billion previously.

Allianz Malaysia is an investment holding company with two wholly owned subsidiaries, Allianz Life and Allianz General.