German finance giant Allianz seeks agency
The German personal finance giant Allianz – one of Europe’s largest insurance providers – is seeking an agency for a new healthcare division designed to serve expatriate employees worldwide.
Dublin-based Allianz Worldwide Care was set up in November and specialises in selling health insurance to employees of international companies. It has contacted London agencies to run the first phase of its campaign across Europe. The division plans to launch globally, but will first concentrate on western Europe.
Allianz has invested e30m (&£17.5m) in AWC, and it is thought that a substantial part of this will be used to advertise the service.
Chief executive Ron Buchan says: “Private health insurance for expats is a niche market, but one with strong potential for growth and profitability.”
He points out that there are only four big players: Bupa International, Axa Group’s PPP Healthcare, Cigna International and Aetna International. There are about 30 million business expats worldwide.
The company is expecting to start underwriting business this month, targeting the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, the Benelux countries and Switzerland.
Allianz owns Cornhill in the UK, which recently announced it was pulling out of the UK private medical insurance market after failing to attract sufficient customers.
