AGCS expands Asia presence with China and Indonesia offices

Corporate insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has commenced new operations in Indonesia and China, thereby making Asia the fastest-growing region in the AGCS network. AGCS has bolstered its presence with a new division in Allianz China’s new office in Beijing, adding to AGCS’s existing operations in Guangdong and Shanghai. The expansion is a response to the needs of global corporate clients, said AGCS, and the China office will look to provide coverage for engineering and liability as well as environmental impairment liability, entertainment insurance and global programmes. The new Indonesian office is a division of Allianz Utama in Jakarta and, as in Beijing, AGCS will operate as a reinsurer of the local Allianz companies, with embedded teams dedicated to AGCS corporate insurance business. The Indonesian business will focus on financial lines and engineering products, in a bid to capitalise on the country’s economic growth and increased investment in infrastructure. The new operations, which follow the opening of an office in South Korea earlier this year, now make Asia the fastest-growing region in AGCS’s network as the insurer ramps up its efforts to profit from the growth of the region’s insurance markets. China is currently the world’s second largest insurance market and accounted for half of global insurance growth in 2016. While Indonesia’s insurance markets are expected to benefit from the country’s accelerated GDP growth, particularly in property and engineering insurance. “The Asian market is of utmost importance to AGCS, and in 2016 contributed 5% to our overall global premium volume of €7.6bn,” said Carsten Scheffel, AGCS board member and chief regions and markets officer for Asia. “Since we opened our Asia regional office in Singapore in 2012, the region has been one of the fastest-growing markets, delivering double-digit growth rates.” Mr Scheffel said there are a number of “significant opportunities in Asia”, due to the growing number of infrastructure projects and an increased focus on environmental liability, both of which require “tailored insurance programmes with significant lead insurer capacity”. In China, the One Belt One Road initiative will lead to an unprecedented number of infrastructure projects and is a “unique opportunity” for insurers, said AGCS. More than $8trn is expected to be spent on projects involving 65 countries, which could lead to insurance premium potential of more than $7bn. AGCS also expects strong demand for EIL and entertainment insurance due to greater regulatory enforcement of environmental law in China and the growth of its entertainment industry, especially film production which trebled between 2005 and 2015, making China the third biggest film producer behind the US and India. In Indonesia, AGCS has also made a number of appointments to lead its development efforts, including Megasari Manurung, underwriter for financial lines, and Indrajaya Wardhana, underwriter for engineering. The Beijing and Jakarta office openings also increases AGCS’s capacity to provide global programmes, a key aim for the insurer as more Asian businesses expand internationally and international businesses expand in Asia. Of the 2,500 global programmes managed by AGCS, just 6% currently come from Asia. “We have seen an increase in demand for global insurance programmes in Asia, and China and Indonesia are no different,” said Mark Mitchell, regional CEO for AGCS Asia. “Our multinational customers from the United States and Europe also benefit from our expanded network in Asia for their own global programme setup. “As risk exposures grow in multitude and complexity, having a global partner for international insurance coverage can really facilitate smooth and efficient operations for businesses worldwide.”

AGCS expands Asia presence with China and Indonesia offices

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