Allianz Lanka’s new CEO shares 5 strategies for insurers to drive growth

The market is expected to climb at a CAGR of 8% which insurers need to take advantage of.

In February, a new leader assumed the helm of Allianz Insurance Lanka (Allianz Lanka): Prashant Grover. As chief executive officer (CEO) and country manager of Allianz Lanka, Prashant revealed five key priorities for insurers to keep pace with the upward trajectory of the sector.

In 2023, the gross written premium of the Sri Lanka insurance market was estimated at $776.7m. The industry is projected to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 8% from 2024 to 2028, revealed GlobalData.

For Prashant, this is an opportunity for Allianz Insurance Lanka to address emerging needs in insurance as the economy recovers.

His strategic priorities focus on fostering a performance-oriented culture, growing revenue, improving productivity, providing consistent customer service, and increasing brand awareness.

Navigating regulatory reforms and changing consumer behaviours, Allianz Lanka seeks to offer value-for-money and accessible insurance products, positioning itself for long-term success by staying relevant and increasing insurance penetration.

Prashant brings over 20 years of experience in the financial services and insurance sectors, having started at Allianz in 2007. He has held key roles in various markets across Asia and Europe, including leading transformations in Asia Pacific and Thailand and guiding Allianz’s entry into Vietnam.

Recently, he was the Regional Lead of Business Transformation, focusing on digital, distribution, and organisational changes. Here are excerpts from his interview with Insurance Asia:

What is your vision for leading the company into its next phase of growth and development?

In the Sri Lankan market that we are in right now, I’ll put this into context, and then I’ll share with you where I see Allianz Sri Lanka going into the next phase. Essentially, currently in Sri Lanka, due to the crisis over the past couple of years and the current economic situation, there is a stagnation or non-growth scenario.

Taking that into context, what we need to do is ensure our strategies and how we approach the market and business — have a significant focus on the end customer. That should be our core focus. With that focus on the end customer, our plan as Allianz Lanka — one of the largest multinational players locally — is to address all protection needs from a consumer standpoint.

Currently, there are standard products in the market. We aim to understand various protection needs across different life cycles, brands, and commercial entities, and bring best-in-class products and services that Allianz offers. In essence, we aim to position Allianz as the preferred insurer for both retail and corporate clients by leveraging our capabilities not only locally but also regionally.

To achieve this preferred insurer status, two aspects are crucial. First, we must focus on building customer value propositions. For me, this means enhancing value propositions for our core business segments — currently motor and property — and further developing our offerings in health and specialty lines of business. Second, we will continue using technology as an enabler to improve access to insurance through an omnichannel approach, catering to customers transitioning between online and offline distribution. In summary, our approach involves enhancing customer and product/service propositions whilst leveraging technology to improve insurance product accessibility.

What are the emerging demands in Sri Lanka that Allianz Lanka is adjusting to?

I mentioned that in terms of our motor and property segments, which are our core business, it’s not so much about customer habits. It’s more about accessibility, availability, and having the right product for different types of segments. We have the private car segment, the two-wheeler segment, and the commercial car segment. Each of these customer segments has very different needs and price sensitivities for the products we offer. Our goal is to understand each segment and offer the right product in terms of coverage and price point.

For our core segment, we focus on ensuring the right product for each motor segment. In the health sector, there’s a need for a proposition that caters to people who want something between a group health plan and a high-end global health plan. We aim to address this market need as well.

Similarly, in specialty lines, with trade and export becoming more important as the economy picks up, trade credit insurance is becoming more prevalent and necessary. Cyber insurance is also becoming a critical need for banks. Whilst there are current offerings, we need to ensure better awareness and improved products to provide a comprehensive solution for banks’ cyber insurance needs.
 
What are your key strategies to maintain the company’s competitive edge as customer preferences and regulations change?

From my perspective, as I put the market context into focus, we need to ensure that in Allianz Lanka, we continue to build a resilient business model. This model should be built on sustainability, adaptability, and speed in responding to the needs of our customers and partners. In the current environment and market situation in Sri Lanka, we will face continuous challenges — externally, within the industry, and in our company. Therefore, our business model must become increasingly resilient to these external pressures and challenges.

This brings us to the necessity of faster adaptation and quicker market responses. From an overall business model perspective, that is the direction we need to take. In terms of strategic priorities, we have defined five key priorities for Allianz Lanka:

First is building resilience, both externally and internally, which must be based on a culture of trust and performance. This will be the core of our strategic actions over the next two to three years.

Secondly, even in a challenging market, we need to grow in the segments where we excel in underwriting and servicing. Managing our portfolio and focusing on specific portfolio segments is not our strategy. We aim to grow in the right areas.

Third, improving our internal processes and ensuring our systems and technology support our business and operating models efficiently is crucial.

Fourth, we need to build value propositions and service models that are customer-focused. Engaging with customers should be simple and easy, similar to their experiences with other industries. This includes fast problem resolution and straightforward claims payment processes.

Lastly, we should leverage our brand to create awareness about insurance and protection needs in the local market, ensuring the right products reach the right people.

These five pillars underpin our strategic priorities. Ultimately, it boils down to two fundamental aspects: customer centricity, which involves creating value for our customers, and productivity, which involves creating internal value for our shareholders and partners, thereby providing value back to our shareholders.
 
Do you suggest that your fellow insurers follow in your footsteps?

Yes. At the end of the day, we in the insurance industry need to build more trust with our customers. Insurance is fundamentally a promise made at the time of sale, a promise that truly matters when the customer faces trouble and a claim needs to be made. Trust is the cornerstone of our industry, and we as insurers must excel in building that trust among our customer base. It doesn’t benefit Allianz if consumers don’t trust the competitors either.

A lack of trust in the industry as a whole creates negative sentiment around our products, leading people to misunderstand their actual protection needs. Therefore, creating customer value involves ensuring we have the right products at the right prices, with appropriate coverage, and distributing them through the right platforms. I believe it would be beneficial for our competitors to follow the same path in building trust and delivering value.
 
Amidst Sri Lanka’s shifting insurance industry, how will Allianz Lanka navigate regulatory reforms and changing consumer behaviours to drive growth?

With the current economic situation impacting the disposable income of consumers and increasing use of digital applications for ‘day-to-day’ transactions, customers are looking for “value for money” and “easy to access” insurance products.

Whilst this creates challenges in terms of excessive price competition and commoditisation of certain products at Allianz Lanka we see this as an opportunity to differentiate through creating technology-based product and service propositions.

Regulatory reforms supporting streamlining of a framework for partnerships with telco companies, simplification of microinsurance and recognising the impact of digital customer interactions all enable a shift towards changing consumer behaviour.
 

What do you foresee as the biggest opportunities and challenges for Allianz Lanka in the next five years, and how do you plan to ensure long-term success in the Sri Lankan market?

The key challenge in the coming years would be to keep insurance and insurance products relevant in the context of the current economic situation and increase penetration as the economy recovers. This is also the biggest opportunity, where Allianz can address the protection needs of customers for their life stage and lifestyle needs by creating more awareness and providing to access insurance solutions.