PETALING JAYA, (Bernama) -- MCIS Zurich Insurance Bhd will bank on its Business Turnaround Plan (BTP), to ride on the challenging times ahead and set itself as a major player in the insurance industry by the turn of the decade, said its chief executive officer Md Adnan Md Zain.
The BTP was mapped in anticipation of an insurance market that will not only grow but also become more competitive in the future, he said.
"The plan, which is up to 2011, will see us embarking on a complete transformation of our business to be more efficient and relevant.
"By the end of 2011, MCIS Zurich aspires to be among the top five insurers in both the life and general insurance segment," he said at a press conference after announcing the company's financial results here today.
He also stated that there was a general expectation that 2009 would psoe significant challenges in the macroeconomic scenario.
"Furthermore, the introduction of the Risk Based Capital regime in January 2009, demands a greater level of judiciousness by insurance companies in managing their capital adequacy levels based on the risk they undertake in the course of doing business.
"Insurance companies will generally be faced with a myriad of challenges not only to remain relevant, but also to survive," he said.
For MCIS Zurich, the BTP will drive the initiative to increase its market share by expanding target client segments, profitability for both the life and general insurance business and reinforce itself as a strong and competitive insurer while increasing its distribution, technical and operational capabilities.
Its market share in the life and general insurance segment was 3.2 percent and 1.7 percent respectively for the financial year ended June 30, 2008.
"We will be targeting above par growth for the coming years," Md Adnan said.
He said the company would also continously leverage on its affiliation with Zurich Financial Services -- its major shareholder and one of the largest global insurance based financial services provider -- to further strengthen and expand its growth.
"MCIS Zurich can tap into the global expertise of Zurich to help formulate a plan to position the company on an enhanced footing in Malaysia."
He said the company, which has over 3,000 agents will introduce health, education and investment based insurance products in future.
The insurance company posted RM44.616 million in higher pre-tax profit in the financial year ended June 30, 2008 over the RM30.443 million for the same period last year.
Revenue improved to RM733.329 million from RM731.633 million.
The company's total assets charted RM3.1 billion in upward growth from RM2.9 billion, earning a 32 sen increase per share from 20 sen previously.
Md Adnan said the life insurance business gross premium rose to RM400 million while the general insurance gross premium surged to RM193 million.
"The good performance was due to ongoing improvements to our distribution mechanism, enhancement of our product range and operations efficiency," he said.
On the outlook for the life insurance segment, MCIS Zurich's chief financial officer Rolf Staeger said it would be line with the industry's growth of 8-9 percent.
-- BERNAMA
