Helga Jung: Colombia is a highly attractive business place. First, Colombia is the fourth biggest economy in Latin America, and one of the fastest growing countries in the region. The economic outlook for the next years is positive, with steady growth expectation around 5.0 percent and a low and stable inflationary environment.
Becoming Allianz Colombia
Ms. Jung, why is Allianz doing business in Colombia?
Second, Colombia is also one of the most business friendly places in Latin America with excellent investor protection, ranking very well on the 5th position in the worldwide "Doing Business" database. And last but not least, Colombia keeps on strengthening the integration into world trade, and has been positioning itself as a growing export platform.
Can you describe the insurance market in Colombia?
Jung: The insurance market in Colombia is growing as there is still significant need for improved risk protection. At the moment, Colombia has a 2.3 percent penetration of the property and casualty insurance market, which is still below comparable markets like Brazil with 3.1 percent. However, we as Allianz believe that Colombia will close this gap in the next years and the whole Allianz Group will support Allianz Colombia to satisfy the demand of our Colombian customers and provide them with the best insurance products and services. And as the Colombian economy is likely to grow steadily over the next years, there will be a rising demand for additional insurance coverage to safeguard that growth.
And how is the Allianz business doing in Colombia?
Jung: In 1999 Allianz bought Colseguros. After some difficult years at the beginning, the company went through a restructuring process, which also included the implementation of the IberoLatam business platform. It went live in February and ensures the efficiency of our business. Currently, Allianz has a good position in the Colombian insurance market with a strong 7 percent market share. Considering these points, we are quite optimistic that Allianz Colombia will continue its successful growth path in coming years.
What has lead to the decision to rebrand to Allianz Colombia, rather than to keep the traditional name of Colseguros?
Jung: Globalization led to our one-brand vision, supported by brand architecture and our successful and long-term global brand strategy. Being a trusted partner, helping customers to move on and up in life and business, serves as a point of orientation for our employees and distribution partners.
Even in the current difficult worldwide economic environment Allianz has proven to be among the most stable, reliable, and strongest insurance companies in the world. Our long term business strategy, the company's corporate culture and its worldwide service model directed towards customers make this an exciting company to work for.
One evidence for the success of our corporate and brand strategy is that Allianz is ranked among the top performers within the financial services sector in the Interbrand global TOP 100 brand ranking.
How is the rebranding process going?
Jung: We've started with the rebranding process in Colombia already back in 2010. And of course, this has been an exciting project for our staff, the agents and customers. There has been a visible change of building signage, email addresses, letterheads, and agencies to Allianz. All this requires a dedicated project team and as we say: the devil's in the details.
The highlight will be a large rebranding event on May 30th. To ensure the new name Allianz Colombia will be recognized, we will start a rebranding campaign on public TV, radio and digital activation as of June.
With the rebranding of Colombia, Allianz branded revenues will increase to approximately 82 percent of total revenues.
Helga Jung: "Colombia is a highly attractive business place"
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