By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Kyobo AXA Auto Insurance aims to increase its market share to 8 percent, becoming one of the top five in three years, its new CEO said.
``Our objective is to keep being the best online auto insurer in this country,'' said Guy Marcillat, president & CEO of Kyobo AXA Auto Insurance, at a meeting with press held in downtown Seoul, Wednesday.
He said it was logical for AXA, which has a leading position in global financial market, to advance into the Korean market. The auto insurance arm of Kyobo, which was the leader in the online auto insurance market, was acquired by the French financial group last month. AXA is one of the biggest insurance groups in the world, with 99.6 trillion won total sales doing businesses in 41 countries as of the fiscal year 2006.
He said the high Internet penetration and quick access make Korea a perfect online market. ``It is definitely the most innovative market in new technology. We believe in developing a strong position on the online market in the coming era.''
He said it would continue using the name Kyobo for some time, but added that it would strengthen marketing. ``Kyobo Auto has been growing without a big marketing investment due to our good reputation. Now we need to do marketing.'' Marcillat added the firm has plans to increase its capital and advertising. But there is no IPO plan, he said.
The new CEO showed great determination to introduce a more detailed segmentation of drivers. ``One of the biggest strengths of AXA Group worldwide is certainly in underwriting.'' He said it is natural that good drivers should pay much less premiums than bad drivers. Marcillat, who served as the CEO of AXA in Japan for nine years, said AXA was the first to introduce segmentation of rates according to the colors of driving licenses there, which represent good, bad and extremely bad drivers. ``Today, everybody is doing the same. This is the power of underwriting.''
He said the Korean market is much more sophisticated than the Japanese market, but expected the direct auto insurance market to grow 10 percentage points by 2010, taking 25 percent of the total auto insurance market.
Marcillat spent most of his career in Japan, serving as CEOs of pharmaceutical, perfume and insurance companies. He is now getting to know Korea, carrying word cards in the pocket to practice Korean. ``I think it's a privilege to learn a foreign language. My dream is to answer you in Korean, though I don't know how many years it will take.'' He said he has already fallen in love with Korean food. He said jokbal (pork-hock) is ``fantastique.''