DISCOUNTS, NEW DEALS ON OFFER

       Thailand's firstever insurance fair, Insurance Week, will offer discounts of up to 30 per cent on premiums, General Insurance Association president Jiraphant Asvatanakul said yesterday. At the fair - to be held from this coming Wednesday to Sunday at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani - the association will promote products by designing them simply with convenient sales channels in an attempt to convince people to be more concerned about life protection.
       It would like to see people hold only one card, recording all kinds of policies taken out by the insured. If this were legally possible, both consumers and insurance companies would share the benefits, he said.
       Sara Lamsam, president of the Thai Life Assurance Association and Muang Thai Life Assurance's president, said lifeassurers would offer many specially priced products covering every category of customer.
       Micro protection, an insurance policy for low-income earners is one of the products available at the fair.
       Also on show will be a savings lifeassurance product with a premium of Bt300 a month, and a singlepremium product with protectionperiod options of three, five and 10 years with a return of 2 to 4 per cent, excluding tax benefits.
       Products linked with investment - universal life or unitlinked - will be on offer at special rates, while there will also be a personal accident policy offered at a premium of Bt0.70 per day for an insured sum of Bt100,000.
       Regarding Muang Thai Life Assurance's products, Sara said the company would launch a new healthrider product at the fair, providing insurance cover for four serious diseases.
       If a policyholder falls ill from one of the specified diseases, they will receive Bt1 million. Moreover, they will be protected for another 10 years without paying any further premiums. If they later fall ill from another of the four listed diseases, the company will pay an additional Bt1 million.
       However, disease and premium details are not yet available, as the product will be officially launched at the fair.
       Chantra Purnariksha, secretarygeneral of the Office of Insurance Commission, said that besides cheap insurance products, visitors to Insurance Week would be able to gain extensive knowledge, as well as benefiting from activities involving the awarding of items such as free rice and sugar packs, plus a lucky draw for gold.
       Job opportunities within the sector will be another feature, she said.
       For example, the UKlang garage insurance association is hoping to recruit 5,000 technicians at the fair.