Survey findings to help AXA market its plans better

KUALA LUMPUR: AXA Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd should be able to offer better products and services in future, thanks to a survey conducted in August.

AXA Affin Life Assurance Bhd chief executive officer Vincent Kwo said the results of the poll would enable the group to tweak its product offerings to suit different lifestyle needs.

AXA Affin Life is a joint-venture company between AXA Asia Pacific and Affin Holdings Bhd.

“The poll is a valuable tool for us to gain market share by understanding the needs of our target audience,” Kwo told a media briefing on the results of the poll yesterday.

AXA Affin Life Insurance Bhd chief executive officer Vincent Kwo at the briefing of the AXA Life Outlook Index 2007
The AXA Life Outlook Index survey was targeted at 2,400 “mass affluent” respondents in eight countries in the Asia-Pacific. It covered four aspects of life – career, family, health and retirement.

According to Kwo, the Malaysians comprised 300 respondents aged 25 to 50 with a monthly income of RM1,500 and above.

The survey found that Malaysians recorded the second lowest level of optimism in terms of general outlook at a score of 66.2%, behind Singaporeans who scored 59.2%. Indians were most optimistic, at 87.2%.

The index adopts a scale of one to 100, from least to most optimistic.

The survey also found that 44% of Malaysian respondents did not take retirement planning seriously, with 12% considering retirement too early to even think about.

Kwo said this would encourage AXA Affin to work on the retirement aspects. “We know the younger respondents do not consider financial planning for retirement in the early stages of their life, so it would be our responsibility to educate them.

“We will also train our financial advisers to be prepared and able to provide the appropriate financial solutions for our customers,” he said.

Without elaborating, Kwo said AXA Affin planned to focus on products covering health and retirement, two areas that scored low levels of optimism among the Malaysian respondents in the survey.