AAMI will launch a push into WA this weekend with a mass media offensive to lure new customers as the Suncorpowned general insurer looks to exploit a long-standing market dominance enjoyed by the RAC and SGIO.
Executive manager Anthony Durakovic said yesterday that WA was a potentially lucrative market for the company, which holds about 20 per cent of the general insurance market nationally but has only a minimal customer base in Perth — 5000 mainly east coast residents who have relocated to WA.
"We've consolidated our position in most States and we think now is the right time to expand into WA," Mr Durakovic said.
The RAC and SGIO between them control about 50 per cent of the WA market, a situation Mr Durakovic said was not repeated in any other State.
"When you get a market where there's two major players like that it can lead to a bit of complacency and it creates the opportunity for some competition," he said.
The group hopes to ultimately take as much as 35 per cent of the local market, although Mr Durakovic did not offer a time frame. As well as the multi-format media campaign, AAMI will try to lure new customers through what it says are better-priced deals than its competitors.
It is also believed to be on the lookout for a key sporting or community sponsorship opportunity to establish its name in the State, similar to its sponsorship of Adelaide's AAMI Stadium, home of the Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide.
AAMI operates in WA from a small customer service centre in Osborne Park with about eight staff, but has been looking at potential sites for a bigger centre to support an expanded client base.
The expansion comes amid increasing speculation Suncorp will quit its troubled banking assets to focus on its core insurance business under new chief executive Patrick Snowball.
Suncorp picked up AAMI through its acquisition of general insurer Promina Group in 2007.
RACHEL DONKIN
