CEO aims to take Allianz to the top
By Wang Lan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-25 10:40
Listen to the heads of foreign insurance companies, and you'd be forgiven for
thinking the European Cup has been moved forward two years from 2008.
The Germans say they want to be top dog among
their peers in China. So do the Italians, the French and, in a more reserved
way, the British.
Few appear as ambitious as Christian Molt of Allianz,
who believes that he has a better chance to rule the roost than his
competitors.
That Chinese consumers have a penchant for German quality,
most notably Volkswagen and BMW cars, has not gone unnoticed by Molt and his
colleagues.
As chief executive officer of Allianz China Life (AZCL), Molt
is hoping that part of that German magic can rub off on the insurance company,
which is a joint venture with new partner CITIC Trust & Investment Co, one
of the nation's largest business conglomerates with diverse interests in
finance, manufacturing and trading.
Unsurprisingly, the company spared no
effort to promote its brand in association with the Germany 2006 World Cup that
was the centre of attention for hundreds of millions of Chinese football fans
around the country in June.
Too bad Germany lost to Italy at the
futuristic Allianz Arena, a scale-model of which was on display in Shanghai
throughout the tournament.
But Molt, a veteran Asia hand at Allianz, has
remained steadfast about his goal of making the company number one among foreign
insurance joint ventures on the mainland.
It looks like a tall
order hobbled by what appears to be a false start in China, AZCL now ranks
a distant fourth behind Generali China Life, a joint venture between Italy's
Assicurazioni Generali and China National Petroleum, American International
Assurance and CITIC-Prudential.
The latest figures published by the China
Insurance Regulatory Commission show that Allianz China's premium income in the
first five months of 2006 totalled 377 million yuan (US$47 million), well below
the 2.7 billion yuan (US$337.5 million) of market leader Generali China, the 2.6
billion yuan (US$325 million) of AIA and 594 million yuan (US$74.2 million) of
CITIC-Prudential.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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