Targeting growth in Asia
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has opened a new branch office in South Korea, with a view to targeting growth in Asia in response to the needs of global corporate clients.
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has opened a new branch office in South Korea, with a view to targeting growth in Asia in response to the needs of global corporate clients.
According to AGCS, it has become the first foreign non-life insurer in almost a decade to receive regulatory approval from South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) to open a branch in Seoul operating with a local insurance license.
AGCS has been active in the Asian market for several years, with AGCS Asia’s regional footprint including Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, India, Brunei and Myanmar. The company said that the opening of the South Korea branch means that AGCS now operates with its own teams in 31 countries globally, including all the top 10 insurance markets worldwide.
“A local South Korean branch presents a unique opportunity for AGCS and will play a key role in our Asian growth strategy,” commented Carsten Scheffel, AGCS board member and chief regions and markets officer for Asia. “We have been active in this thriving market for several years. The local office in Seoul will allow us to serve both local South Korean and global companies with South Korean interests much more efficiently. Already, more than 11 per cent of our global clients have operations in South Korea protected under our international insurance programmes.”
The new branch will focus on serving companies with multinational operations extending beyond South Korea, leveraging AGCS’s technical expertise and experience in running international insurance programmes, said the company.
“We have seen an increase in demand for global insurance programmes as more South Korean firms look to expand overseas as well as from the growing pool of global corporations with South Korean interests,” said Mark Mitchell, regional CEO for AGCS Asia. “AGCS is one of the very few global insurers to focus exclusively on the needs of global corporate and specialty clients. Our expertise in serving clients with international activities will allow us to provide the best coverage for clients as they seek to compete on a global scale.”