By DALJIT DHESI
PETALING JAYA: Allianz Malaysia Bhd (AMB), which tomorrow marks the 100th day of its acquisition of Commerce Assurance Bhd (CAB), will focus on three main areas to ensure the success of this integration.
Chief executive officer Alexander Ankel said the three core areas were branch relocation, information technology and human resources.
With the completion of the acquisition of CAB on Aug 28, the company now has three subsidiaries – the other two being Allianz General Insurance Co (M) Bhd (AGIC) and Allianz Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd.
With the acquisition, AMB is now the country's second-largest general insurer with about 10% market share and an expected premium income of RM1bil by year-end. It currently has 56 branches: 34 for Allianz and 22 for CAB.
“We have relocated and integrated 10 branches and hope to do (the same for) another seven by the end of January. The entire process is expected to be finalised in six months,'' Ankel said in an interview.
Synergising the IT infrastructure would also offer a uniformed platform for customers in the business and significantly reduce turnaround time for insurance documents and add value to both agents and customers, he added.
He said AMB had introduced electronic agent systems to support its motor business and make its branches one-stop service centres for customers.
Ankel said the company was also streamlining the policy printing and distribution in CAB and AGIC to facilitate the issuance of motor policies on the spot and provide customers with the necessary insurance documents of all other lines of business within 14 days.
On the human resources side, he said AMB placed great importance on communication, transparency and sincerity during the integration, as these were vital factors in any integration exercise.
“That is why I committed myself to visiting each CAB branch to meet all their staff, major agents and some CIMB bank branches.
“This is to clearly communicate one strategy and one direction to all our new colleagues. This whole visiting was done within the first 30 days of the acquisition,” he said.
Ankel said AMB, under a 10-year bancassurance agreement with CIMB Bank, could also tap the bank's 4.5 million customer base and 393 branches nationwide to sell its bancassurance products.
He said with a total agency force of about 8,000, AMB would also continue to grow its broking and bancassurance portfolios.
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