Pru Life UK targets partnerships with banks, fintechs

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MANILA, Philippines — Leading insurance firm Pru Life UK is looking at banks and non-traditional players to partner with in a bid to boost its distribution network and include more Filipinos into the social protection system.

In an interview with The STAR, Prudential plc CEO Anil Wadhwani said its local subsidiary targets to forge partnership either through bancassurance or via non-traditional modes such as e-wallets and financial technology (fintech) to access underserved markets beyond its agency model.

While Pru Life UK has a large insurance force, it currently does not have bank partners. Other industry players have entered into bancassurance that allows life insurance products to be sold within the banks’ premises, with the approval of both the Insurance Commission and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

“That is something that we are pursuing in the Philippines. I would love to have something with banks. I’m also ready to kind of explore non-bank partners,” Wadhwani said.

“We’ve been attempting to do this for a while. Our core strength is agency but thinking about our next chapter of growth and how we can drive better penetration, to my mind, that’s the opportunity.”

Current regulations limit that an insurance firm should be part of a financial conglomerate to be able to sell within bank premises especially for variable universal life (VUL) insurance, one that allows for the cash value to be invested in the market.

Existing rules likewise mandate that banks can only partner with a single insurance company as in the case of AIA Philippines and Bank of the Philippine Islands, Allianz and Philippine National Bank, AXA Philippines and Metrobank, Manulife and China Bank and Sun Life and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., among others.

Wadhwani said regulators should be able to create frameworks that allow companies like Prudential to penetrate and offer services deeper into the market.

“That framework should enable banks to have multiple insurance partners in order to create a level of competition that is good for the end consumer and eventually drive greater penetration,” he said.

Wadhwani added that such a framework can also complement services of other insurers to drive better outcomes for customers.

Pru Life UK president and CEO Sanjay Chakrabarty, for his part, maintained that there are multiple ecosystems in the Philippines that the company can embed itself in.

Chakrabarty said there are a lot of lending institutions where customers would benefit a lot from having insurance cover against personal accident, disability and loss of jobs.

“We see a lot of opportunities in this market apart from just banks. We intend to pursue those,” he said.

Prudential operates across nine Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao PDR.

Its agency force comprises more than 40,000 active agents monthly, supported by over 200 bank partners including strategic alliances with Standard Chartered and United Overseas Bank.

On the local front, Pru Life UK posted P9.8 billion in new business annual premium equivalent last year, securing the top market position with a 15 percent share.