The bancassurance partnership between CIMB Group and Sompo Holdings (Asia) is tipped to raise MYR200 million (US$51.7 million) in gross written premiums in 2018.
The alliance between the Malaysian bank and the Japanese insurer had already achieved 20% of that target within the first two months of the year, according to CIMB chief executive of group consumer banking, Samir Gupta.
“We think our target is just right,” he was quoted as saying by Edge Markets during the partnership’s launch of its travel insurance product on Tuesday.
Gupta said that targets have been met so far, with MYR22 million (US$5.69 million) in premiums for the four months beginning August 2017.
In 2016, CIMB signed a 15-year partnership with Sompo, one of Japan’s largest insurers, to offer various general insurance products to customers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. In Singapore, the firms have released Sompo Drive, a telematics-enabled motor insurance product which gathers and analyses data from consumers’ diving behaviour.
Gupta added that the group is on pace to reach its MYR1 million (US$260 million) five-year revenue goal, ending 2021. This was due to good results in Singapore, and an incoming 2020 launch in Thailand. However, the group’s Indonesia business has fallen a bit short of target, partly due to a readjustment of its motor insurance segment.
Aside from motor cover, among the other products Sompo and CIMB offer are snatch theft insurance for individuals, fire and other property insurance, group benefits, liability, engineering, and commercial marine credit.
“Fire insurance has been the most popular product in Malaysia, with snatch theft and motor insurance coming into the picture as well,” said Mark Anthony, executive director of Sompo Asia.
Meanwhile, Yuji Kawauchi, president and managing director of Sompo Asia described the partnership as an “ideal collaboration to support Sompo’s aim in the region to break boundaries of its core products.”
