Health insurer BCWA is to begin a push to grow its presence in the individual private medical insurance (PMI) sector in a bid to double its overall size within three years.
The company, which is now part of the HSA group, is set to soft launch an individual PMI product at the end of October with a group of intermediaries. It will be rolled out to the rest of its 1,500 agency base next year.
BCWA sales and marketing director Jack Briggs said the product would aim to address the problem of spiralling premiums for individual PMI policies. He said the product would be menu driven "so customers purchase only what they want".
He added that it would also provide a premium discount for policyholders with low claims histories.
Rate inflation in individual PMI products has averaged 8% to 10% a year, with many arguing that this has been one of the major causes of falling demand for the products among consumers.
Briggs said BCWA was also now looking to develop its corporate PMI business among larger companies.
"Historically, we have been pulling away from larger corporate markets, but since our acquisition by HSA we have been looking to develop the larger accounts."
About 75% of BCWA's business comes from corporate PMI. It currently writes premiums of £70m annually and has a 3% share of the PMI market. Bupa dominates the market with a share of 40%.
