This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on June 23, 2025 - June 29, 2025

ETIQA, a conventional insurance and takaful provider under Malayan Banking Bhd (KL:MAYBANK), is looking to expand its life insurance and family takaful segments further by tapping deeper into its bancassurance channel.

“Our growth has been through bancassurance for the most part and I think we are just scratching the surface [of its potential],” says Etiqa Insurance & Takaful group CEO Kamaludin Ahmad.

In 2024, the insurer derived 42% of its gross written premiums (GWPs) from the general insurance business while life insurance and family takaful contributed 58% to the group’s total GWPs.

The GWP split between its conventional insurance and takaful segments stood at 62:38. But in terms of profit before tax (PBT), the takaful segment contributed 52% compared with 48% from conventional insurance.

In Malaysia, Etiqa sits on top of the leader board in general insurance, with a market share of 17% in 2024. It is particularly recognised in the motor insurance space, which contributes slightly more than half to its general insurance GWPs.

However, it lags in the life insurance/family takaful segment, where it is currently in third place with a market share of 13.4%, compared with the segment leader’s near 20% market share.

Typically, life insurance and family takaful players utilise a huge agency force to grow market share, but Kamaludin points out that Etiqa prefers the bancassurance route, which allows it to tap into Maybank’s scale and breadth of customers to grow its life insurance and family takaful premiums.

Etiqa currently has 9,000 agents for its general insurance segment and about 6,000 agents for its life insurance and family takaful operations. This compares with the bigger players in the life insurance space, which boast 20,000 or more active agents.

The group CEO concedes that the insurer has not been “very successful” in its attempts to bring Maybank depositors into the fold as clients of Etiqa’s life insurance products.

“We have made some headway, but are not very successful yet. I think we need to continue working on making it easier for the sales people in the bank to sell. [Even though] it has been made easier, as we did throw in tools and applications, appointments and actual sales can be done in a more efficient manner,” he says.

In 2024, Etiqa group recorded PBT of RM1.2 billion, while its GWPs totalled RM13.3 billion.

Kamaludin points out that trust is of key importance as an insurer and Etiqa’s reliability has helped grow the business over the years.

“Trust is something we need to build and we’ve been doing that over the years. I honestly think that most of the growth that we’ve had is because our agents are referring other agents to us and getting more customers to us while the repair workshops also refer their customers to be insured by us.”

He maintains that Etiqa intentionally pays a higher labour rate to repair workshops that they are in partnership with, compared with other insurers, and this has not only helped its existing customers but also aided it in generating new business.

By going the extra mile, Etiqa believes its customers may be more willing to explore its other insurance offerings.

Citing the example of its travel insurance, Kamaludin says the insurer goes above and beyond, to the extent of sending a reminder to customers about their upcoming flight and informing them of their boarding gate and baggage carousel number.

“These frequent interactions aren’t typical of an insurance company. Most of the time, you don’t want to ever have to contact your insurance company, right? Because it’s an indication that something has happened. But we do it in a non-intrusive way, so that customers appreciate the interaction with us.

“And we don’t try to sell them anything during this time,” he adds, as the main intention is to build trust.

Many of the travel customers subsequently buy another product, primarily another travel product or motor insurance, he says.  About 35% of travel insurance customers buy another product within 12 months, but the conversion has yet to translate into life insurance at this juncture.

With the more frequent interaction, Etiqa hopes to create awareness of its other products among customers.

Malaysia is the main market for Etiqa while its Singapore entity is growing steadily. The group also operates in other markets in the region, such as Cambodia and the Philippines, where it has both general and life insurance operations, and in Indonesia, where it has a general insurance licence.

Kamaludin sees big potential for a takaful market in Singapore and the Philippines due to the lack of shariah-compliant options in those markets. He adds that the strategy is to provide halal options to meet the unserved needs of the Muslim population in those countries.

Early this year, Etiqa launched its first takaful insurance offering in Singapore in over 10 years. According to Kamaludin, the response has been better than expected.

“We are seeing some good progress. It took us a long time to get the Singapore takaful going. When it finally did this year, it happened in a pretty strong way. We targeted about S$6 million (RM20 million) in sales this year, but we’re already at S$4 million as at May. So, we see opportunities there and are trying to serve the needs of the Muslim population first.”

In 2024, its Singapore operations’ GWPs totalled RM2.75 billion and recorded PBT of RM159 million from general and life insurance.

Kamaludin says for the Philippines, Etiqa has already obtained approval from the authorities to market and sell its takaful products and is currently considering how the insurer can cater to the population’s needs according to purchasing power.

“The purchasing power is different from Singapore, so we can’t sell what we are selling in Singapore to the Philippines yet. For the Philippines, it’s about trying to serve the more basic needs of the population with a much cheaper option.”

Currently, the premiums in the Philippines consist largely of group medical insurance. Kamaludin believes that if the group can get bancassurance going in the Philippines, it can be a potentially strong market for the insurer.

For Indonesia, the one market in Southeast Asia with a substantial Muslim population, Etiqa does not have the licence to sell takaful products. It does, however, operate in the general insurance space.

Kamaludin says the route to penetrating the takaful market in Indonesia is likely through acquisitions because getting a new licence to operate is unlikely. But the group is being very selective about it.

“We’re very careful in terms of selecting who we acquire. We need to approach the right kind of company and have the right kind of partner in Indonesia. The partner needs to be aligned with us,” he says.

However, he adds that while Etiqa is looking to acquire a local entity, it is “not close to anything yet”.

Its Cambodia operations are relatively new and still in “start-up” mode. Kamaludin observes that the market is small but has learnt from the banking industry that it needs to get a foot in the door now while the market is still developing.

“We are really there for the future. We don’t see big contributions yet even in the next two to three years. But we do see them continuing to grow at a strong pace and perhaps start to generate a profit towards the end of this year or, at the latest, next year.”

Maybank holds a 69.05% stake in Maybank Ageas Holdings Bhd — the holding company in which its core entities include Etiqa General Insurance Bhd, Etiqa Life Insurance Bhd, Etiqa General Takaful Bhd, Etiqa Family Takaful Bhd and Singapore-based Etiqa Insurance Pte Ltd. The remaining 30.95% is held by Brussels-based insurer Ageas SA.

As for the Indonesia, Philippines and Cambodia operations, they are held through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maybank — Etiqa international Holdings Sdn Bhd. It holds a 79.87% stake in PT Asuransi Etiqa Internasional Indonesia, 95.24% in Etiqa Life and General Assurance Philippines Inc and 100% of its Cambodian general insurance and life insurance entities.

Asked if Maybank is looking to increase its stake in Etiqa by buying the portion held by Ageas, Kamaludin says: “There are discussions ongoing. But really, that’s at the shareholders’ level.” 

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