PhilAxa Life premiums hit P7.8B in November

Philippine Axa Life Insurance Corp. (PhilAxa Life) has every reason to be bullish this year, and look forward to turning things around by 2008.

PhilAxa Life set a target of P6.5 billion in total premiums for the whole of 2006. But by November, premiums already stood at P7.8 billion.

In fact, first-year premiums alone stood at over P1 billion, the first time that first-year premiums surpassed the P1-billion mark.

"The Philippines was second best behind China within the Axa family in Asia," Andrew D. Alcid, PhilAxa Life president and chief executive officer, said.

Total premium income in 2005 stood at P4.5 billion, growing by a whopping 52 percent from the P2.9 billion in 2004. That solidified its hold in fourth spot among the 36 life insurance companies in the Philippines. Premium income in 2003 was a modest P2.6 billion.

Estimating a little over 30-percent annual growth rate since 2003, PhilAxa Life could register total premiums in the vicinity of P9 billion this year.

In 2005, Philippine American Life and General Insurance Corp. (Philamlife) tops the country’s life insurance industry with total premiums of P12.3 billion, followed by Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. with P8.1 billion.

Third best performer in terms of premium income was Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. with P6 billion. After PhilAxa Life, the Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. Inc. was fifth best with P2.8 billion with Pru Life Insurance Corp. of UK right behind with P2.3 billion.

Earlier inerviews with company officials indicate that they are looking at total premiums to hit P8.5 billion by 2007. That forecast was made in the middle of 2006.

Based on the assumptions and early forecasts, PhilAxa Life is poised to barge into the magic three life insurers this year.

The chief executive described 2006 as a clean-up year, 2007 for further consolidation of its gains, and 2008 is the turning point.

Meanwhile, net income in 2005 was already an impressive P87 million after the P62 million the previous year. Yet net earnings at the end of November 2006 was a whopping P544 million.

Alcid said that investment income in end November was P1.6 billion, or 15 percent over target. For the whole of 2005, investment income was already an impressive P1.3 billion after the P582 million the year before.

Key to the strong peformance in premium income including investment income is the alliance with the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank). PhilAxa Life is a joint venture between Metrobank and Axa of France, the largest insurer in Europe and a major global player.

Bancassurance contributed roughly 70 percent of total premiums last year. Bancassurance allows the insurer to sell its products through the bank’s branch and client network.

Yet the bank president laments that PhilAxa Life has yet to tap the full potentials of bancassurance with Metrobank.

PhilAxa Life introduced variable or unit-linked insurance products for more than two years. Unit-linked products are both protection and investment in nature.

The insured can select from three kinds of funds where they could "park" their investments. These are equity or stock funds, bond funds, and balanced (equity and bond) funds.

Last year, equity funds reportedly grew by 34 percent, bond funds by 15 percent, and balanced funds grew by 29 percent.

This year, the insurer will introduce four new products, new investments opportunities while developing its infrastructure for better systems.

Among the new products are life insurance with financial features, retirement features, and education features.