KUALA LUMPUR: Allianz Malaysia Bhd is anticipating more insurance payment defaults come October after the six-month loans moratorium period ends, its CEO Zakri Khir said today.
At present, the insurer does not experience much impact, he said.
“In any recession or economic downturn, this would be an issue because of cash flow.
“We anticipate that this would come more and more especially come October when the moratorium of loans is over and people have to pay their loans and for their daily needs.
“And then we would see really a cash flow crunch but we will deal with it as it comes, very professionally, very intelligently, very emotionally as well because some of these people who potentially default are very very old customers,” he said when responding to a question on whether there were any default payments by its customers.
Zakri said this at the e-launch of Allianz Smart Retail Shield.
As for sales, he said Allianz was recording better sales until March compared to last year but did not share the figures.
He said while the Covid-19 outbreak triggered greater protection needs, consumption is also declining amid rising unemployment and a decline in household income.
Hence, the insurer launched Allianz Smart Retail Shield, a flexible A-Z protection plan for businesses covering retail shops, restaurants, boutiques and salons, offices as well as hotels and motels.
Zakri said SMEs which are looking to bounce back from Covid-19-related impacts can sign up with Smart Retail Shield.
The plan allows them to build on their fire insurance coverage with customisable coverage.
These include protection against commercial fire and coverage such as Inconvenience Relief Benefit, consequential loss, and terrorism; safeguarding of business assets (Burglary, Machinery Breakdown, Goods in Transit, and more); taking care of the welfare of employees and protection against other exposures.
“SMEs such as boutique hotels to baker’s cafes make up nearly 98% of businesses in the country and were among the hardest hit by the pandemic.
“As one of the main drivers of the Malaysian economy, SMEs provide jobs for almost two-thirds of the Malaysian workforce and contributed 38.3% or RM521.7 bil in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018,” Zakri added. – May 19, 2020, Bernama
