By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
The quality of people matters for an insurance company, and PCA Life would like to offer more job opportunities for Koreans, its new CEO said.
``I think it's all about people, the people in the industry. We will continue to improve the quality of our people, and ensure we have right training,'' said Kevin Wright, president & CEO of PCA Life Korea, in his first meeting with the Korean press, held in downtown Seoul, Monday.
Wright, who is also serving as deputy managing director of North Asia, was appointed to head the leading British life insurer in the country in February.
Wright said the insurer would continue pursuing its aim of becoming the No. 1 foreign insurer in the country by 2010. ``That still remains very strong vision for us. I'm a strong believer in visions.''
He said PCA Life Korea takes a huge part in PCA Asia in terms of annual insurance premiums. He cited growth of people, growth of distribution channels, enhancing brand awareness and growth of IT capability to ensure selling more products to its customer base as major targets.
The new CEO said it would focus on general agency, financial consultants (FC) and bancassurance, as direct marketing seems very saturated at this moment.
The insurer will increase the number of FCs and strengthen other sales channels. ``We have around 2,000 FCs. We want to increase that base. We also have very strong relationships in both bank channels and general agency channels. We will maximize the potential of those relationships.''
PCA Life has shown strength in annuity insurances. It launched a new variable universal life insurance (VUL) product as a part of its retirement planning campaign.
The ``PCA Dreamlink VUL'' invests insurance premiums in the fund as a universal insurance product, but can also cover not only the policyholder but also the family against disease and accidents at relatively small insurance premiums.
The product invests in 15 funds ranging from emerging market funds to an Asia infra fund, giving more options to subscribers.
Regarding the variable insurance market, Paul Kang, chief distribution officer of the insurer, said now seems to be the time for subscription. ``After sub-prime mortgage woes and the rattling of the stock market, there is a tendency to hesitate regarding variable insurance,'' Kang said. ``However, variable insurance is not a short-term fund, but a long-term fund. Short-term market fluctuations shouldn't affect the insurance product.''