Issue 11: November 014 ISM Net NCD System Enhancement The Central NCD System was designed with the objective to provide an efficient mechanism for NCD confirmation, and to reduce fraud and premium leakages within the motor insurance industry. The Central NCD System serves as a great underwriting tool during the motor insurance underwriting stage. Moving forward, we are continuously discovering enhancements that will make this system more useful. In view of this, we have included claims count information into the system. With this enhancement, you will be able to get information of the proposer s claims count during the NCD confirmation process. An automated notification on the number of claims made by the proposer is generated by using their ID number. The claims count generated is further divided in to categories such as the number of claims where the proposer is at fault and the count of windscreen claims. INSIDE THIS ISSUE NCD System Enhancement... 1 Collaboration with Driven.... Industry Insight.... To find out more about this enhancement, you can contact our NCD Support Team at ncd-system@ism.net.my.
Q 014 Updates Collaboration with Driven Communications Driven Communications entered the online arena by publishing Paultan.org, Malaysia s No. 1 automotive news site. They have since expanded and is currently also managing oto.my, CarBase.my, InfoKereta.com, TechAttack.my, and OHBULAN! With their great success in the online arena, in-depth knowledge of the automotive industry and expertise in providing services such as Customized Content Production, Advertising Solutions and Creative Solutions, ISM has taken a step to collaborate with Driven and believes this collaboration will be beneficial to both parties. The strategy to work with Driven will be advantageous in many ways such as: The promotion of the National Vehicle Identification Code (NVIC). The NVIC is an internally developed code comprising of alphanumeric characters that is unique to each and every vehicle. With Driven including the NVIC in their publications and databases, the awareness of NVIC to the public and insurance industry increases. The use of the NVIC allows for easy identification and extraction of vehicle information. Increasing streams of sharing vehicle information with the public. Information such as vehicle features and specifications, vehicle market value and No Claim Discount (NCD) are currently available via MyCarInfo. Linking this information to Driven and with their vast influence in the automotive industry allows easier access for the public to get the information they want. Improve updating process of the Automotive Business Intelligence (ABI) database. Getting early information on new vehicle launches from Driven allows us to update the ABI database in a timelier manner. This in turn, provides the public with better updated information.
Billions Billions INDUSTRY INSIGHT Penetration Rate of Fire Insurance / Takaful in Malaysia B a c k g r o u n d S t u d y The Motor and Fire insurance market in Malaysia will be expected to liberalize in 016. Insurance companies have been analyzing the Motor portfolio extensively to set their market strategy to prevent losing out on market share. General Insurance/ Takaful Market Share 100% 80% 60% 40% 0% 1.7% 1.5% 1.7% 1.8% 1.8% 18.8% 18.0% 17.1% 17.1% 17.6% 44.8% 46.6% 46.5% 47.% 47.9% 0% 009 010 Medical and Health 011 01 01 Personal Accident Marine Aviation and Transit Miscellaneous 80% 78% 76% 74% 7% 70% 68% 1% 0% 9% 8% 7% 6% 5% 4% % GWP vs NCIR (Motor) 78.6% 78.5% 76.9% 7.0% 71.6% 009 010 011 01 01 NCIR GWP GWP vs NCIR (Fire) 0.5% 8.6% 8.4% 6.4% 6.1% 009 010 011 01 01 NCIR GWP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 1 0 4 1 1 0 Figure 1: General Insurance/ Takaful Market Share
The industry statistics shows that the Motor Insurance is by far the largest chunk in the General Insurance business sector. The growth in motor gross written premium every year is not showing any sign of stalling. In addition, it is exciting to find out how the loss making Act Liability will be priced when the market is detariffed. For all the right reasons to and it is fully justifiable that insurance companies to scrutinize their Motor portfolio. However, it is feeling of the author that the fire insurance segment has been neglected and the Fire portfolio is equally important as the Motor portfolio if not more. Fire insurance has been a profitable business all the while, which is grave cause for concern, at least to the author; when the market is detariffed, how aggressively insurance companies will price fire premiums? How creatively will insurance companies market their fire cover? A highly profitable fire portfolio becomes a not so profitable portfolio all of a sudden as a result of competitive pricing, etc. - just a food for thought. There are numerous analyses that can be carried out to alleviate the sudden depression of fire underwriting or management of general insurers. Amongst that, the author feels that exploring new fire business could (might) be one of the many solutions...the Fire portfolio is equally important as the Motor portfolio if not more. Figure : Fire statistics by type of building in Malaysia for the year 01 Source: Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia 4
The study started with a research on statistics from the Fire and Rescue Department Malaysia. The statistics show that 1%, 6% and 4% of fire incidents are by Shop, Factory and Restaurant respectively. But above them all, Residential Properties accounts for 56% of all the fire incidents. From then on, it prompted to questions pertaining to the frequency of fire incidents and the fire insurance penetration rate because fire insurance is not compulsory (unless it is made compulsory for mortgage purposes). Hence, this started the motivation to conduct this study. Table 1: Penetration Rate (as % of GDP at 005 prices) for Malaysia Fire and Overall General Insurance Year **Fire Gross Direct Premium / Contribution **Total Gross Direct Premium / Contribution *Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Fire Insurance Penetration Rate General Insurance Penetration Rate 009,48 1,585 69,900 0.6%.00% 010,400 1,91 676,700 0.5%.06% 011,51 15,05 711,800 0.5%.14% 01,740 16,49 751,900 0.6%.19% 01,006 17,640 787,600 0.8%.4% Figures are in RM Million *Annual Gross Domestic Product (005-01) - Malaysia: Macro Economic Key Data **Bank Negara Malaysia The penetration rate in Table 1 indicates the level of development of fire insurance in Malaysia, but how is this going to help the insurers in product development and to increase the penetration rate? So, the author has tweaked the meaning of penetration rate to How many of these factories, shops, and residential properties purchases fire insurance? And for those that do not, are there any products that the insurers can offer? The initial stage will concentrate only on the house owner. 5
Analysis The re-defined penetration rate is derived from the fire data collected from insurance members by ISM and the amount of residential properties extracted from the NAPIC (National Property Information Center). The analysis will be classified to five regions, as shown in Table. Table : ISM Region classification Region South North Central East East Malaysia States Johor and Melaka Kedah, Penang, Perak and Perlis Selangor, W.P. Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya and Negeri Sembilan Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu Sabah, Sarawak and W.P. Labuan Table : Total Residential Property and Percentage of Insured House Owner Source Residential Property (NAPIC) Policy Count (ISM) % Insured House Owner Year Region 009 010 011 01 01 East 11,71 19,844 6,796 59,891 65,949 East Malaysia,740 48,41 59,114 68,5 79,9 North 991,671 1,01,941 1,01,651 1,056,514 1,08,647 South 81,99 85,600 89,67 85,1 869,070 Central 1,875,589 1,98,90 1,955,41 1,99,755,07,575 Total 4,5,650 4,45,76 4,51,665 4,61,607 4,76,17 East 56,4 55,475 57,58 5,647 59,56 East Malaysia 175,97 171,71 190,671 177,56 191,40 North 17,669 11,98 14,195 97,148 19,961 South 17,07 05,471 16,769 96,9 1,989 Central 74,774 719,411 74,60 696,576 751,71 Error 7,955 9,66 4,871 7,044 1,016 Total 1,88,975 1,80,688 1,848,67 1,758,604 1,856,56 East 18.0% 17.% 17.6% 14.9% 16.% East Malaysia 5.5% 49.% 5.1% 48.1% 50.4% North.0% 0.7% 0.5% 8.1% 9.5% South 9.0% 7.0% 7.7% 4.8% 7.0% Central 8.6% 7.% 7.6% 4.9% 7.1% Total 4.% 40.6% 41.0% 8.0% 9.% 6
ISM Insurance Services Malaysia Berhad Unit1-1, Level 1, Tower 9, Avenue 5 The Horizon, Bangsar South, No.8, Jalan Kerinchi 5900 Kuala Lumpur Phone: +60 40 9899 Fax: +60 40 9890 E-mail: info@ism.net.my Growth Rate NAPIC Residential Properties Existing Stock from 009-01 East 4.1% East Malaysia.% South 1.7% North.% Central.0% Total.% Figure : Growth of Residential Property According to the report by NAPIC in Table, the residential existing stocks have increased from 4. million units in 009 to 4.7 million units in 01, which gives us a.% on average yearly basis. No doubt that the Central region forms the majority of the stock with an average of 4% market shares. Yet, the Eastern stock growing at a rate of 4.1% has the highest growth rate amongst all. Although fire insurance is not compulsory, it only contributes to approximately 40% of the total number of policy underwritten in 009-01. This has led to questions as to why they are not interested in owning fire insurance. Is it because the current tariff regime makes the fire insurance unaffordable for many? Could a micro-insurance as practiced in other countries be a solution? Or do consumers lack the understanding of insurance? Summary The study demonstrates a low penetration rate in fire insurance. The study also shows the potential of fire insurance increasing the customer base. A different marketing and promotional tool to create awareness and to highlight the importance of insurance may help. Having said that, are the profit margins from the new marketing tools enough to make it worthwhile? Especially when the market is competitive and the focus is to retain the current market share. A more transparent view of the industry through monitoring of consumer-related aspects such as income or consumer education would redress customer s appetite. Anyhow, the author feels that it is better to have at least one fire insurance cover as opposed to none. As the saying goes, better to be safe than sorry. 7