Bank sales buoy Samaggi

       Siam Commercial Samaggi Insurance Plc (SCSMG) expects its sales to grow by as much as 20% next year, helped by healthy bancassurance business.
       Managing director Chiravuthi Bunyasiri said bancassurance, mainly through Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), was the major sales contributor at 64%, up from 52% in the same period last year.
       Just 6% of direct premiums came from agents, with 16% from brokers and 14%from other channels.
       For the first nine months, the company reported direct premiums of 2.13 billion baht, down 19% from a year earlier, due to a more selective approach in underwriting high-risk motor insurance.
       While underwriting profit fell 5.15%to 432.67 million baht, investment income rose 64.5% to 75.16 million. Net profit for the first nine months was 115.73 million baht, a drop from 140.35 million in the same period last year.
       SCSMG lost 310.76 million baht last year against a profit of 285.07 million for 2007, mainly on losses from investments, after the SET index plummeted in the last quarter of 2008 following the outbreak of the global financial crisis.
       Since late last year, the company has entirely cut its exposure in stocks from 10% in 2008- and raised its investments in debentures, government bonds and treasury bills.