KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 ― Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd is targeting its bancassurance segment to maintain a 20 per cent growth rate this year, driven by its partnership with Manulife Insurance Bhd.
Its Group Business Banking Head and Senior Executive Vice President Steve Miller said the collaboration with Manulife Insurance, which was signed last year, has shown good results.
“The bank is expecting a fruitful future as the market is slowly growing as the penetration of life insurance and general insurance products in Malaysia is quite low as compared to other countries,” he told Bernama after launching the SME Innovation Challenge 2014.
Under the 10-year agreement, Alliance Bank will distribute Manulife Malaysia's suite of life insurance products through its network of over 90 branches, serving the bank's consumer base of more than one million customers.
Meanwhile, Miller said revenue and profit contribution from the bank's small-and-medium enterprise (SME) segment represented about 25 per cent.
“We are considered as one of the smaller banks in the market but we have one of the biggest percentages of contribution from this space for the overall bank.
“Loans growth from the SME segment was about 17 per cent last year, and we expect something similar this year,” he said.
He said the bank does not target SMEs from any specific sector as that would restrict participation.
“We just want good businesses. We are hoping that out of the thousands that are expected to sign up, there are bound to be at least 20 really fascinating companies.
“If you look at the mix last year, I think it was a really healthy mix of online companies, food and beverages, retail and so on,” he added. ― Bernama
