The Zurich life business in Singapore (Zurich Life Insurance Singapore and Zurich International Life Singapore Branch) will no longer accept new policy applications with effect from 1 December, 2015.
The decision only affects the life business in Singapore while Zurich remains firmly committed to the Singapore market through its General Insurance (Global Corporate) business, which has successfully been gaining significant market share since 2008.
Zurich has a strong local market position in the large General Insurance (Global Corporate) commercial space in Singapore and continues to invest in this business as evidenced by the establishment of regional corporate roles in Singapore to support the branch and strengthen Zurich’s proposition to both Singapore domestic and international corporations in Asia Pacific.
Singapore will remain a key regional hub for Zurich’s General Insurance (Global Corporate) offering. Existing and new General Insurance (Global Corporate) customers and distributors will continue to receive the same quality of service and product choice that they have received in the past.
This decision on the life business in Singapore will not have any impact on Zurich’s existing customer policies in Singapore. All the terms and conditions of existing life policies will be safeguarded and the service to these customers will remain unchanged. Zurich’s commitment includes ensuring and guaranteeing the future servicing of all policies with a dedicated local customer management team, honouring all contractual obligations and ensuring sufficient capital to provide security for all existing policies.
Commenting on the decision, Colin Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of Zurich’s life business in Asia Pacific, said: “Our decision to no longer accept new life policy applications in Singapore did not come lightly, but is a necessary action as part of prioritising investment where we can compete to win and establish a distinctive position. We spent a long time exploring the different options, but this unfortunately was the most feasible and practical under the current and foreseeable circumstances,” Mr Morgan said.
“To ensure sustainable and successful operations within Asia Pacific and in line with our global strategy, Zurich needs to focus its resources on the markets and customer segments where it has a real competitive advantage, not only by evolving to meet the demands of a rapidly changing and more competitive business environment, but also by maintaining and building high performing businesses that create value for customers, shareholders and Zurich as a whole.
“We will be retaining a core number of people to oversee the transition, as well as an ongoing dedicated support team to service all existing customers, and wherever possible, Zurich will do what it can to redeploy affected employees within the organization.”
