Pru Life UK seeks new bank partnerships in Phl

HONG KONG – Prudential Life UK of the Philippines will be launching new bank partnerships within the year to sustain its strong premium growth in the first semester of 2011.

In an exclusive briefing for Philippine business journalists, Prudential Corp. Asia (PCA) chief executive officer Barry Stowe said the new bank partnerships will complement their existing productive partnerships with Citi NA and Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) in the Philippines.

PCA is the regional office of Prudential Plc, one of the largest insurance and financial service institutions in the world. Pru Life UK is the Philippine subsidiary of PCA.

Stowe said the Philippines remain one of the emerging markets in Asia with the highest potential for growth.

“Backed with an extensive and professional distribution network, the Philippines is one of the highest potential markets in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Pru Life UK does not have an existing bancassurance joint venture arrangement with any Philippine bank. A bancassurance joint venture company means both the bank and the insurer have significant equity share in the firm.

The local subsidiary of PCA, however, has a broker-type business arrangement with Citi and HSBC.

Possible business options are Standard Chartered Bank, which has an existing relationship with PCA for the Asia Pacific region, ING Bank and Deutsche Bank.

Pru Life UK reported a 40-percent expansion in new businesses or premiums in the first semester of 2011, higher than the 24-percent growth rate in the entire region for PCA.

Total premiums rose nearly 68 percent, or from P3.1 billion in the first six months of 2010 to P5.2 billion this year. First year premiums and single premiums skyrocketed 95.2 percent to P4.1 billion in the first semester of 2011 from P2.1 billion in the same period last year. Half of the new business came from its existing bank partnerships.