TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

FWD Life Insurance targets aggressive growth

Life insurance company PT FWD Life Indonesia is eyeing tripling its number of new customers and is aiming for more than 50 percent growth in terms of new premium value by the end of this year

Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post)
Fri, November 27, 2015

Share This Article

Change Size

FWD Life Insurance targets aggressive growth

L

ife insurance company PT FWD Life Indonesia is eyeing tripling its number of new customers and is aiming for more than 50 percent growth in terms of new premium value by the end of this year.

FWD Life vice president director Jens Reisch said that his firm aimed to book Rp 70 billion (US$5.08 million) of new premium value and to engage with 15,000 customers by the end of this year. The company, which is a joint venture between PT Finansial Wiramitra Danadyaksa and Hong Kong-listed general and life insurance FWD Group, pocketed Rp 45 billion in new premium and recorded almost 5,000 customers during its first year of operation last year.

'€œWe are optimistic about achieving the targets,'€ he said on Wednesday, adding that his firm had reaped more than Rp 50 billion in new premium during the first nine months of this year, a 61 percent hike from the first half.

Reisch stated that more than 90 percent of the premium target would be contributed from agencies while the rest would come from corporate employee benefits, bancassurance and e-commerce.

The company currently employs more than 2,500 agents and has three marketing offices '€” in Bandung, West Java; Surabaya, East Java; and Semarang, Central Java '€” to promote its insurance products. FWD Life plans to open another office in Medan, North Sumatra, next year.

President director Rudi Kamdani said that Indonesia still provided a large market for insurance, citing a Financial Services Authority (OJK) report that showed insurance penetration of only 2.51 percent in the country last year.

'€œWe aim to reach one million Indonesian customers by 2017,'€ he said.

Rudi went on to say that his firm would optimize its e-commerce and Internet-based services given the rapidly growing number of Internet users in the country.

According to data by the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), the number of Internet users in Indonesia jumped 20.5 percent last year to 88.1 million people, around 34.9 percent of the country'€™s population, from 71.9 million recorded in 2013.

Market research firm eMarketer predicted the number of smartphone users would hit 103.6 million people in 2017 from around 61.2 million last year.

Recently, FWD Life launched iFWD Liberate, an insurance e-commerce platform, and cooperated with telecommunications provider Indosat Ooredoo to respond to the lucrative online marketing sector.

Indonesia'€™s e-commerce transaction value hit $12 billion last year, a surge from only $8 billion in 2013.

The country'€™s e-commerce market is forecast to have a total value of Rp 295 trillion ($21.5 billion) next year, a huge increase from Rp 94.5 trillion in 2014, according to the Indonesian E-Commerce Association (idEA).

'€œWe would like to show people that insurance can be easy to purchase and claim if using technology,'€ said Rudi, adding that his firm targeted young and productive people under the age of 30 as they were familiar with the Internet.

Besides optimizing technology, FWD Life will also expand its bancassurance, which is currently with only one bank, by entering into cooperation agreements with other three banking partners in next year'€™s first quarter. However, neither Reisch nor Rudi detailed the lenders, saying only that the agreements had been settled and permits were in the pipeline.

'€œThe agreements will cover credit life partnership and several other financial products too,'€ said Rudi.


{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.