Philam Life sees 20% premium growth

MANILA, Philippines - The Philam Life Group is projecting 20- percent growth in premium income this year, from P19.4 billion last year, its top executive said.

Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) president and chief executive officer Rex Ma. A. Mendoza said in a press briefing yesterday that the insurer expects to do better than its 2011 performance.

“We will do better than our 2011 performance, especially the last five months which accounted for over 60 percent of total sales,” he said.

The Philam Life Group consists of Philam Life, Philam Equitable Life Assurance Corp. (Pelac) and BPI Philam.

Pelac was a joint venture company between the then Equitable PCI Bank and Philam Life. It has since been resold back to Philam Life when BDO Unibank Inc. took over Equitable Bank.

BPI Philam is a joint venture bancassurance company between the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Philam Life.

Mendoza said the keys to achieving their 2012 targets are anchored on a revitalized agency force, which numbers a little over 5,000, new products and services; renewed vigor in expanding to the country’s various central business districts (CBDs); greater penetration of its alliance with BPI; and expansion into micro-insurance.

He said, micro-insurance will be the principal focus of Pelac, supported by direct sales and the utilization of technology. The contribution to premiums and the bottom line will be smaller but Pelac will contribute to the quantity or policies-in-force.

“It will likewise reach more Filipinos who we are serving in the first place,” Mendoza said.

Pelac will draw guidance from the AIA Group Ltd., its principal, but will likewise seek guidance and knowledge from other sources such as the Insurance Commission (IC) and the National Credit Council (NCC), the line agency of the Department of Finance (DOF).

Meanwhile, Philam’s new business sales for 2011 totaled P10.26 billion, with first year premiums growing nine percent to P1.68 billion and single premiums up 55 percent to P8.58 billion.

Net income last year jumped 79 percent to P7.3 billion, while investment income expanded by a healthy six percent to P11.95 billion.

Philam Life’s assets grew 13 percent to P176.48 billion. Its total assets stood at P130 billion at the start of 2012. With the increase in assets in 2011, Philam Life will most likely again have the most assets among all life insurers.

Its capital base stood at P2 billion, the highest in the industry.

In 2011, Philam Life paid out over P8.9 billion in total claims and benefits, nine percent higher than the previous year. In fact, on education payouts, Philam Life released P1.2 billion in 2011 alone.

BPI-Philam on the other hand reported P5.23 billion in new business sales, growing 14 percent, delivering fiscal year premiums of P254 million and single premiums of P4.98 billion.