Pru UK new business premiums up 69% in H1

Manila, Philippines -  The new business premiums (NBP) of Pru Life UK (Philippines) in the first six months of 2012 expanded 68.5 percent to £123 million from £73 million reported in the same period last year.

According to Prudential UK chief executive officer Tidjane Thiam, annual premium equivalents (APE) thus rose 50 percent, or from £14 million in the first semester of 2011 to £21 million in the same period this year.

The NBP is calculated as equaling single premiums plus the present value of expected premiums of new regular premium business.

Single premiums alone rose by a whopping 82 percent to £89 million this year from the £49 million in the same period last year.

The APE is the aggregate of regular new business amounts and one-tenth of single new business amounts. NBP are new premiums generated in a given period, in this case the first six months of 2012.

The peso equivalent was not utilized to avoid erroneous conversions.

In the first semester of 2011, total premiums (equivalent of the APE) rose by a whopping 67.7-percent increase, or from P3.1 billion in the first six months of 2010 to P5.2 billion this year.

In 2011, total premiums amounted to P9.9 billion (roughly £148 million).

Likewise, first year and single premiums skyrocketed by 95.2 percent to P4.1 billion in the first semester of 2011 from the P2.1 billion in the same period last year.

Renewal premiums were steady from P1 billion in the first semester of 2010 to P1.1 billion end June this year.

Thiam likewise reported that its Philippine operations registered a 42-percent growth in bancassurance business in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank, and an expansion of 100-percent with United Overseas Bank (UOB).

In Asia, Prudential UK reported that its bancassurance business had a “deep penetration through over 14,500 bank branches from 77 partners.”

Prudential UK has been putting Asia at the heart of its growth strategy benefitting from a strong “baby boomer” demographic shift and strong inflows in asset management.

He reported that overall new business profits grew by 103 percent, from £1.billion in the first semester of 2011 to £1.1 billion in the same period this year. In Asia (accounts for nearly half of new business) alone, it grew from £465 million in first semester of 2011 to £547 million this year.

For the rest of the year onwards to 2013, the Asian growth strategy will be driven by the expansion of agency and bancassurance distribution networks. In fact, it already initiated a greenfield entry into Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Sun Life Financial president and chief executive officer Dean Connor said that sales in the Philippines in the first six months of 2012 rose by 74 percent.

In its recently-released second quarter 2012 report, Connor said that sales were up 66 percent from agency expansion plus the contribution of of Sun Life Grepa Financial, the joint venture bancassurance company between Sunlife Financial Philippines and the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

The Philippine operations of Sun Life reported total premium income of P13.9 billion, or 31 percent higher than the P10.6 billion net premiums recorded in 2010.

It gained the number one spot among the country’s life insurance industry in the same year.

Total assets grew 16 percent to P119 billion while total benefits paid out amounted to P7.2 billion.

Connor said that its insurance business in Asia continued to expand with its joint venture in Vietnam.

“Initiatives to expand distribution in Asia contributed to strong increases in the sale of individual life insurance in the Philippines and China compared to the same period last year,” he said.

 In terms of overall business in the first six months of 2012, total premiums and deposits grew 21 percent year-over-year to C$25.1 billion.

Assets under management increased to C$496 billion from C$474 billion a year ago.