Affin Bank Berhad | Annual Report 2020

90 MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS ORGANISATION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OTHER INFORMATION In the face of the pandemic in 2020, our primary focus was to adapt and innovate in the new normal to support and deliver greater value to our customers and partners. We launched several key initiatives to ease customers’ financial obligations and continue to reassess our value chain to enhance our product and services. We made good progress on our strategic priorities in selective growth, efficiency, customer experience and building capabilities. 2020 FINANCIAL REVIEW AAGI ended FY2020 with a gross written premium (GWP) of RM1.38 billion [2019: RM1.35 billion] and registering a PAT of RM83.8 million [2019: RM67.2 million]. Our 2020 performance was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic – specifically, the mitigation measures introduced such as the MCOs and the OPR cuts. RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES The pandemic has upended the norms on business operations and consumer behaviours; thus creating massive challenges and rare opportunities at the same time. Many of these changes are likely to stay and in response, we have accelerated our digital transformation to innovate faster for our customers and deliver more value through improved processes. Digitalisation is the key and way forward to transform and grow. LEAN processes and automation were embraced to serve our customers efficiently. To date, we have invested in robotics process automation and deployed more than 100 bots across the company, resulting in a 95% improvement in the quality and speed of everything we do. This has also led to a reduction in labour-intensive work and enabled us to focus more on value- added activities in line with our Payer-to-Partner strategy. In response to the shifting landscape of consumer behaviours and to improve customer experience, we are also leveraging on data and customer segmentation to personalise experience for our customers. On the human capital aspect, we have embraced a smarter way of working, upskilled employees with new way of learning on digital platforms and we will continue to build digital capabilities to future-proof our workforce. The continuation of the AXAPRENEUR programme has enabled us to generate new ideas and products to help our customers to protect what matters. AXA Digital Faculty 4.0 was also launched to provide various digital upskilling programmes to further strengthen digital capabilities and foster strong digital culture internally. LOOKING AHEAD Moving forward, 2021 is expected to see trends such as disruptive technology, ‘new normal’ lifestyle, wellness wearables, and demand surge in usage-based insurance. As we chart our journey towards becoming a customer-centric insurer, our mission is to strengthen our digital capabilities and accelerate the growth of our profitable segments to bring greater value to our customers and stakeholders. The general insurance business outlook for 2021 is contingent on the effectiveness of the vaccination programme to contain the pandemic and the recovery in external demand. Nevertheless, our focus for 2021 will remain centered on building sustainable business portfolio to ensure sustainable profitability and expanding our market share in the preferred segments, whilst constantly finding new ways to adapt and adopt to this new normal in our ways of doing business. We will continue to uphold a strong commitment by driving sustainable practices and growth responsibly, striking a long-term balance between the environment, society and the economy.