Foreign insurer set to open Phl unit

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign insurer FWD Life Insurance Corp. (FWD Life) will start business operations in the Philippines next month.

It is the first foreign life insurance company in decades to directly enter the Philippine life insurance sector.

Peter Grimes will be the chief executive officer in an acting capacity.

FWD Life is wholly owned by the FWD Group, the insurance business arm of the private investment group, Pacific Century Group (PCG). The group’s business spans across Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand, offering life insurance products, as well as general insurance and pension operations in Hong Kong.

Swiss Reinsurance (Swiss Re), one of the global leaders in reinsurance and insurance, hold a 12.3-percent stake in FWD Group, with an option to increase its equity holdings.

PCG is one of the largest conglomerates in Asia with assets under management worth at least $65 billion in assets. It has massive interests in media, information and communications technology (ICT), logistics, telecommunications, financial services, and property.

Last year, PCG acquired the Thailand, Macau and Hong Kong insurance business of ING reportedly worth $2.14 billion.

PCG is part of the Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. of Hong Kong, headed by Li Ka-Shing, one of the richest men in Asia.

As a foreign insurer, FWD Life will have P1 billion in paid up capital, of which P250 million will be invested in Philippine government securities. A minimum P100 million must also be made available for capital expenditures and other operation requirements in its first year of operations.

In an earlier interview, FWD Group chief executive officer and executive director Huynh Thanh Phong said that they would employ a multi-distribution system anchored on sales agency, bancassurance and online/electronic platforms, which it has been employing all through the Asian region where it operates.

Earlier this year, Starr International Insurance (Asia) Ltd. entered the country’s non-life insurance market. Starr Insurance is part of several global financial institutions headed by Hank Greenberg.