By DALJIT DHESI-The Star

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Assurance Alliance Bhd (MAA Assurance) executive vice-president for general corporate client and schemes David Tan is tipped to be the new chief executive officer of Uni.Asia General Insurance Bhd.

According to sources, Tan would very soon be joining the company pending Bank Negara’s approval. It is learnt that he is still serving MAA Assurance.

In March, Mohd Fauzi Yaakub resigned as CEO of Uni.Asia General after helming the company for only a few months. For the time being, acting chief operating officer Habshah Mohamed is overseeing the company’s operations.

Uni.Asia General, a source said, had been scouting for a CEO since Fauzi’s departure and Tan, whose vast experience in the general insurance business, was a valuable one and was chosen for the job.

Uni.Asia General provides a wide array of general insurance business like motor, personal, health, group personal accident, home, travel, as well as marine, aviation, and engineering products.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2009 (FY09), the company posted a 17.4% growth in gross premiums to RM410.4mil compared with RM349.5mil in FY08.

Its market share for the period increased to 3.7% from 3.3% previously and it is now ranked 10th in terms of gross direct premiums written.

Despite the improvement in gross premiums, Uni.Asia General registered a pre-tax loss of RM5.8mil compared with a pre-tax profit of RM24.1mil previously, due to higher claims payout and lower investment returns caused by poor stock market performance.