Boom.com customers can now access an online insurance centre through the company's website which allows them to compare the prices of a range of insurance products and services offered by 20 insurance companies. Customers can either purchase the insurance products online at Boom.com or through partner Kwiksure.com, another online insurance broker which launched its online broking business in Hong Kong in June 2000.

The new alliance enables people to buy personal insurance products, including travel, motor vehicle, home, medical, accident and life policies via the Internet. Customers who buy insurance products through Boom.com's website will be entitled to a 10 per cent discount, valid until the end of this year.

Kwiksure.com managing director Neil Raymond said the alliance would compete on low prices: 'We will be the first online insurance broker in Hong Kong to undercut prices. Selling insurance products through insurance agents is very ineffective. It is much cheaper to distribute the products through the Internet, which also helps cut down our operating costs,' he said.

Boom.com's primary business is Internet stock broking. The company offers Hong Kong investors discount trading in shares listed in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the US, as well as Hong Kong-registered mutual funds. But Mark Duff, managing director and CEO, said Boom.com still had ambitions in areas such as cash management accounts, credit cards and margin financing.

Commenting on the move into online insurance, Mr Duff said: 'This partnership is in line with Boom.com's ambition of delivering a full range of financial services that are competitively priced and easily accessible to Boom.com's clients throughout Asia.' Initially, around 10 per cent of Boom.com's clients are expected to use the online insurance centre.