Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers

Infobox Company
company_name = Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers Ltd.
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1999 in Hong Kong
location =
key_people = Neil Philip Raymond, Managing Director
industry = Insurance Financial Services
products = Insurance Financial Products
num_employees = 61 (2007)
parent =
subsid = [Kwiksure.com]
[Kwiksure.com.sg]
[Expat-Medical-Insurance.com]
homepage = [http://www.pacificprime.com]
footnotes =

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Hong Kong, is one of Asia’s brokers of international health insurance products.

History

Founded in 1999 by managing director Neil Raymond, Pacific Prime started its corporate life working primarily with the expatriate market in Hong Kong. Initially, Pacific Prime handled general insurance products such as motor, home, maid/helper, and medical insurance.

Pacific Prime was one of the first Hong Kong insurance companies to explore Internet-based insurance. Its Hong Kong operation, Kwiksure.com, was introduced in partnership with local financial services Boom.com to explore the possibilities of an integrated online insurance service. [ [http://baby.boom.com.hk/aboutus/updates/ann.asp?name=ann2000-12-04.html BABY BOOM - Free Financial Services for Asia ] ]

In 2003 the company further expanded its interests by creating a permanent office location in China. This was in an effort to create a larger market share and capitalize on the reforms that the Chinese insurance market was making at the time. In an interview regarding the 2001 WTO (World Trade Organization) summit on the Chinese insurance industry, Neil Raymond stated that the China market had enormous potential for both foreign and domestic insurers alike. [http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN002210.pdf]

2005 saw the creation of an office in Amsterdam, letting the company access key European markets.

Pacific Prime has, in recent years, started to target the expatriate long term insurance market by offering whole and term life insurance, protection plans, savings plans, personal accident insurance, and critical illness insurance.

As of July 2007 Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers is forecasting the opening of a new office in Singapore to help expand its Asian business and capitalize on the APAC market share that the company already owns. Future plans include the creation of an office location in Dubai, Thailand, and other key Asia Pacific countries.

Competitors

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers' main competitor in the international health and medical insurance market is PHAexpat.com. The two companies operate their businesses in much the same way, targeting extensive international online marketing and dot com partnerships.

PHAexpat.com is a wholly owned and operated subsidiary of the major international insurance group Chase Templeton.

Partners

Pacific Prime Insurance brokers works with a number of organizations both in Hong Kong and throughout China. The company is the insurance agent for the American Chamber of Commerce in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. [ [http://www.amcham-shanghai.org/AmChamPortal/MCMS/Presentation/Template/Content.aspx?Type=34 Member Services - American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai ] ]

Kwiksure (a subsidiary of Pacific Prime) is Yahoo's official partner for insurance in Hong Kong [ [http://hk.insurance.yahoo.com/ Yahoo! 理財 - 保險中心 ] ] .

In 2006 Pacific Prime signed an agreement with Sun Life Financial. The agreement would allow Pacific Prime to distribute pre-need company education and pension plans to Filipino workers who are living in Hong Kong. [ [http://www.slamc.com.ph/news/press.asp?pressID=97 Sun Life Financial - Philippines - News ] ]

As a broker of insurance products Pacific Prime works with a number of insurance companies. See Insurance broker, and Insurance agent for more differences between the two types of insurance intermediaries.

ubsidiaries

Pacific Prime operates a number of websites which it uses to generate business. Aside from the main corporate page the company also owns Kwiksure.com, Kwiksure.com.sg, and Expat-medical-insurance.com.

Kwiksure.com has helped Pacific Prime become a noteworthy broker in the Hong Kong insurance industry, and is the name that most residents of Hong Kong associate with the company. This is primarily due to the targeted TV advert campaigns, and partnerships with various expatriate websites that the company has formed [ [http://www.asiaexpat.com The Expatriates guide to property, careers, travel and entertainment in Asia ] ] . Kwiksure.com is designed as an online insurance "supermarket", and was one of the first websites of this type in Asia.

Kwiksure.com.sg has been launched as a counterpart to the website services offered in Hong Kong. It offers services to Singaporean customers similar to those that are offered in Hong Kong.

Expat-medical-insurance.com is solely a provider of international medical insurance products, and as the name suggests is primarily designed to target overseas expatriate business around the Asia Pacific region. Expat-medical-insurance.com provides plans that will offer cover for acts of terrorism [ [http://www.authorizedmovers.com/articles/Expat-Medical-Offering-Terror-Insurance.htm Expat Medical Offering Terror Insurance in Response to Huge Demand ] ] . However this is becoming a standard addition in many international medical insurance plans, especially with bigger companies and insurance providers such as IHI Danmark (owned by BUPA) and Allianz, essentially negating the company's offerings in this area.

Locations

Pacific Prime has two primary locations in Asia with a third office in Singapore scheduled to open in the latter part of 2007.

Pacific Prime Insurance Brokers is a member of the Hong Kong Professional Insurance Brokers Association [ [http://www2.piba.org.hk/pn01_1.php?reg_no=+201&comp_nm=Pacific+Prime&srt_by=N&Submit=+SEARCH+&srhtyp=M&lang=en PIBA Search ] ] .

The company also has a smaller regional office in Amsterdam.

References

ee also

*Insurance broker
*Insurance agent

External links

* http://www.slamc.com.ph/news/press.asp?pressID=97
* http://www.chinahouston.org/news/2002118085027.html
* http://www.investorsoffshore.com/asp/story/storyinv.asp?storyname=1313
* http://www.prweb.com/releases/terror/insurance/prweb431578.htm