KURNIA Insurans (Malaysia) Bhd aims to hire 1,000 insurance agents as it embarks on new initiatives and diversification.

Kurnia's general manager for agency distribution channel Pang Yoke Nam said Kurnia currently has 6,500 agents and is aiming to hire another 1,000 agents starting the next financial year in July.

"It is very critical to add new blood. We have 30 branches nationwide that conduct business opportunity seminars monthly to recruit new agents.

"This line offers a good career, requires low capital and you will not be out of job," he said in an interview with The Malaysian Reserve recently.

With four million policyholders nationwide, Kurnia is the largest general insurer for five consecutive years, controlling a market share of 14.6% based on net written premium.

Pang said Kurnia is looking to build long-term relationships and create win-win partnerships with its agents.

"We want to make sure that the agents are growing and see how to help them grow their business.

"We conduct seminars to upgrade their technical knowledge and help them to be more professional," he said.

In recognition of its agents' contributions, Kumia, like most local insurers, holds an annual convention to honour its top selling agents. Pang noted that Kumia has 150 agents with annual sales above RM1 million.

"The convention is also a platform to communicate with agents on the company's direction and messages from the CEO. We invite renowned motivators to speak during the convention," he added.

Moving forward, Kurnia will be launching its new product, Compensation for Assessed Repair Time (CART), on April 15.

CART is an extension of the comprehensive motor policy, which provides compensation to policyholder for the number of days the car is being repaired at the workshop according to the loss adjustor's assessment.

"We will subsidise customer's travelling expenses when their car is under repair," he said.

Apart from CART, Kurnia has introduced several value added services to improve customer service such as Kumia Auto Assist and Kurnia Express Service.

Under Kurnia Auto Assist, the insurance company has eight personnel riding on motorcycles around the Klang Valley to assist customers whose cars break down.

Meanwhile, under Kurnia Express Service, customers can drive their damaged cars to Kurnia s branch office for small claims of less than RM3,000. Pang said claims are assessed and processed within one hour.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of slower car sales, Kurnia is growing its non-motor insurance business to reduce reliance on its motor insurance segment.

"We still want to maintain our share in the motor segment. But the growth from motor may not be that impressive.

"Growth will come from the non-motor side. We want to grow our non-motor business in an aggressive mode," said Pang.

Currently, motor insurance contributes 84% of Kurnia's income while its non-motor business accounts for 15%.

The market leader in motor insurance aims to place greater focus on non-motor insurance products such as fire, property, freight and cargo.

The Kumia management team is headed by Captain K H Chia as its managing director.