MTI offers FinGas fire coverage

MTI offers FinGas fire coverage

Ms Nualphan (second right) and Ms Poranee (second left) at yesterday's press conference on the partnership.
Ms Nualphan (second right) and Ms Poranee (second left) at yesterday's press conference on the partnership.

Muang Thai Insurance (MTI) has partnered with FinGas, a startup providing an online platform for ordering cooking gas cylinders, to offer free fire insurance coverage for FinGas customers, aiming to expand to households and companies.

MTI chief executive Nualphan Lamsam said the free fire insurance coverage is available for the first 200,000 orders, offered for three months after an order is made, with a maximum 500 baht of liability coverage for online FinGas customers.

The company plans to offer additional insurance coverage tailored to the FinGas platform, such as personal accident insurance for gas cylinder deliverymen, Ms Nualphan said.

Wasit Lamsam, senior executive vice-president of MTI, said fire insurance is a strategic insurance product that makes up 12-15% of total insurance premiums received.

"We project fire insurance premiums to grow by a double-digit rate next year, driven by the banking channel, product cross-selling and partners like FinGas, leading to exponential growth over the next few years," Mr Wasit said.

MTI's fire insurance premiums are valued at 1.5 billion baht, with the banking channel making up 70-80% of premiums received.

FinGas started operations this year and has 44,000 homes as customers, said chief executive and co-founder Poranee Wattanachot.

In 2020, the company aims to have 200,000 customers in all. Retail customers are expected to account for 50% of customers, with the rest consisting of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), food shops and restaurant businesses.

"About 70% of Thai households still use gas as a cooking fuel, and the trend is growing, while food SMEs use two or three gas cylinders a day, with 50,000 baht in gas expenses per month," Ms Poranee said.

FinGas has roughly 300 merchant partners in Greater Bangkok and Chiang Mai province. The company plans to expand into three other provinces -- Chon Buri, Phuket and Khon Kaen -- next year to increase merchant partners to 600.

The company also hopes to partner with non-bank fintech companies to apply for a peer-to-peer lending business under the Bank of Thailand's sandbox programme in next year's second half.

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