MALAYSIA’S TAHAN REDUCING MOTOR EXPOSURE

Malaysian insurer Tahan is reducing the size of its motor portfolio and is focusing instead on the more lucrative sectors of healthcare, foreign workers and marine cargo, reports Bernama . Chairman Annuar Senawi said on Wednesday that the company would also be looking at fire insurance. He was speaking as Tahan signed a memorandum of understanding with Mayflax, Visa International and Koperasi Perdanajaya, bringing the latter into Konsortium Kesihatan, a healthcare provision and financing service. Mr Annuar said that motor cover used to make up some 80% of Tahan’s portfolio, but that this had already been reduced to 30% and the aim was to reduce it to between 15% and 20% within three years. The MoU was expected to generate 5m ringgit additional revenue for Tahan over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, the company is also looking to reduce its payroll to 360 from 500, with 140 staff being offered redundancy packages. For the first half of 2006, Tahan recorded a premium income of 65.2m ringgit, producing an operational gain of 2.1m ringgit.