AIA Thailand plans to increase its insurance agency by training more financial advisers.
"In the next three years, AIA hopes financial advisers will constitute more than 50% of agents and bring in more than half of first-year premiums," said chief for agency distribution Kris Chantanotoke.
The company employs more than 7,000 financial agents (some 13% of local insurance agents), which generate about 20% of the industry's total first-year premiums.
AIA Thailand aims to recruit new graduates and existing agents with insurance sales licences less than a year old into its financial adviser training programme, launched seven years ago.
Mr Kris said recruited agents will go through a 9-12 month paid sales training regimen.
"The programme is open to existing agents who obtained their licences less than a year ago because we want to change attitudes about this career. We want insurance agents to be perceived as well-educated people in their first full-time job, rather than those seeking a temporary gig they complete along with another full-time job," he said.
Mr Kris said company research found full-time agents perform 50% better than their temporary counterparts on average.
The programme will make it easier for agents to become members of the Million Dollar Round Table, a club for professional insurance agents who break US$1 million in sales per year, he said.
In order to fulfil its goal, AIA Thailand must recruit more than 10,000 financial adviser agents a year, said Mr Kris.
The company plans to open nine additional AIA financial adviser centres by this year to supplement the existing six offices, providing nationwide coverage, he said.