Grepalife premiums up 36% in H1

The Great Pacific Life Assurance Corp. (Grepa-life) has reported a 36-percent growth in total premium income, or from P645.2 million in the first semester of 2007 to P877.3 million in the same period this year.

Grepalife recorded total premiums of P1.44 billion in 2007, thus retaining a place in the top 10 life insurance companies in the Philippines.

“The economic challenges created a market need for products with guaranteed returns. Our diverse portfolio of individual traditional products proved responsive to the market clamor,” Victor P. Quisumbing, president and chief executive officer of Grepalife, said.

Quisumbing added that the steadfast rise of premium income was a result of substantial new businesses from its agency, bancassurance and group business, the insurer’s three main distribution channels.

Of the total premium income, the bancassurance business produced single premium income amounting to P274.9 million. B-Secure is the bancassurance product sold through the branch network of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

The Grepalife chief executive said that B-Secure products will be sold this year in at least 100 branches of RCBC, which has 324 branches and 331 automated teller machines (ATMs).

Bancassurance Sales Officers (BSOs) of Grepallife are positioned within the bank premises to help clients discover an mix of banking and insurance solutions to suit their specific requirements. Grepalife’s ultimate target is to have an average of one BSO for every RCBC branch.

“Our agency channel is in a continuous transformation. After rolling-out our new agency compensation scheme in the middle of last year, we can still confidently say that we have a competitive agency compensation,” he said.

The agencies channel posted a 20-percent growth in terms of new business over same period last year.

While the competition in the group insurance remains tough, Grepalife managed 94 newly-booked accounts. Its total group portfolio yielded P265 million in total premium income for the first half of 2008, which is a 16-percent growth over last year.

Grepalife ranked ninth among the country’s 34 life insurers last year, and expects premium income to grow this year by at least 30 percent to keep pace with its 2010 target of joining the top five insurers in the Philippines.

“The challenge is to develop new investments, introduce more products, look for overseas opportunities, expand domestic sales, develop new marketing options, while maintaining bountiful bottomlines,” Quisumbing said.