Allianz Malaysia improves its annual earnings

Interview Allianz Malaysia Bhd CEO Zakri Mohd Khir

KUALA LUMPUR: Allianz Malaysia Bhd’s net profit rose by 4.3% in the fourth quarter (Q4), spurring the composite insurer to end 2016 with a small bottom-line growth over the previous year.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the company said it posted a net profit of RM89.98mil in the October-December quarter, a gain of RM3.72mil from the same period in the preceding year.

That led to Allianz’s annual profit inching up by 1.1%, or RM3.26mil, to RM312.13mil.

The insurer, which is 66.4% owned by Germany-based Allianz SE, recorded a 3.5% rise in revenue in the quarter just ended to RM1.21bil.

The group posted operating revenue of RM4.68bil for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16), up 3.5% from FY15, due to higher gross earned premiums and investment income by RM94.7mil and RM64.7mil respectively.

The group’s gross written premiums (GWP) stood at RM4.18bil compared to RM4.13bil in the year before.

The general insurance operation delivered a marginally lower (-0.6%) pre-tax profit of RM320.5mil for FY16 while the life insurance segment saw an 18.7% jump in pre-tax profit to RM138.4mil thanks to a higher contribution from investment-linked protection business.

Allianz Malaysia chief executive officer Zakri Khir said in a press statement: “It was a challenging year, yet Allianz Malaysia remained resilient to post RM4.18bil in GWP in the fourth quarter of 2016. 

“This year, we expect to continue growing and to do that, we need to expand out of our traditional markets. We recognise the opportunities out there and we have formed new partnerships that will give us access to new markets and continue to deliver simply the best value for customers through smart, customer-savvy products and superior service.”