Focus for 2010-11 will be on growth - AEGON Religare Life Insurance

Focus on manifold growth in topline and distribution

AEGON Religare Life Insurance (ARLI) today announced its business plans for the financial year 2010-2011, while giving details about its performance in FY10.

ARLI has plans to grow its topline in FY11 backed by expansion of its current distribution. Since the start of its business the company has been following a multi-channel distribution strategy comprising Agency Distribution, Direct Distribution, Religare Enterprises Limited and Business Alliances comprising Banks, Brokers and Corporate Agents. The focus for this year would be to expand distribution by increasing the branch network, hiring more life advisors and relationship managers and increasing the footprint of third party distribution with the focus on acquiring a bank partner. This would be backed by enhancing its integrated customer management strategy and developing new product lines.

AEGON Religare Life Insurance will add more branches to its existing branch network, spread across the country. These branches will be staffed with a well-trained sales force to provide better advice to customers and to this end the company plans to increase the life advisor base to 20,000 and hire over 800 relationship managers in this fiscal year. In addition, the company will also focus on increasing third party distribution through fruitful business alliances.

This increased distribution will help the company target an increase in topline to a Total Received Premium of Rs 500 crore as compared to a Total Received Premium of Rs 166 crore achieved in FY 2009 -10.

“Last year was a challenging year and we used this opportunity to test our distribution models and we ended the year with all channels producing excellent results. We successfully closed 2009-10 with a Total Received Premium of Rs 166 crore which was a significant increase over the previous year and in line with our business plan. We maintained a strong focus on costs and kept expenses under control. Going ahead we plan to invest in our existing distribution model to meet our business topline while keeping a firm eye on business efficiency and productivity. We will aim to build a significant and profitable business and be the preferred partner for all our distribution channels,” said Mr Rajiv Jamkhedkar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, AEGON Religare Life Insurance.

As of now, AEGON Religare Life Insurance has attracted over 70,000 customers. The company launched a suite of products that are focused on providing the customer with the means to meeting their long-term financial goals. At the same time product development has been founded on the tenet of providing the customer with great value. Products such as AEGON Religare iTerm Plan and AEGON Religare Invest Maximiser Plan have been ranked among the best in terms of value and have attracted many external accolades.

AEGON Religare Life Insurance is the coming together of AEGON, an international life insurance, pension and investment company and Religare, a global financial services group.

As an international life insurance, pension and investment company, AEGON has businesses in over twenty markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia. With headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, AEGON companies employ approximately 28,000 people and serve some 40 million customers across the globe. The company’s common shares are listed on three stock exchanges: Amsterdam, New York and London. It manages EUR 388 billion in revenue generating investments. AEGON has more than 160 years of experience with its roots going back to 1844. http://www.aegon.com

Religare Enterprises Limited is a global financial services group with a presence across Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe and the Americas. In India, Religare’s largest market, the group offers a wide array of products and services ranging from insurance, asset management, broking and lending solutions to investment banking and wealth management. The group has also pioneered the concept of investments in alternative asset classes such as arts and films. With over 10,000 employees across multiple geographies, Religare serves over a million clients, including corporates and institutions, high net worth families and individuals, and retail investors. http://www.religare.in