Pioneer Life doubles premiums

MANILA, Philippines -  Pioneer Life Inc. has reported gross premium income worth P1.27 billion in the first six months of 2013, up 84 percent compared to the P693.4 million in the same period in 2012.

The strong performance puts the life insurer of the Pioneer Group well in puts to achieve, and even surpass, its full year gross premium target of P2 billion this year.

“We are now more comfortable,” Rolando A. Robles, Pioneer Life senior vice president for professional sales agency, said.

However, the first semester data is incomplete as it is still collating data on its microinsurance and overseas Filipino workers (OFW) market.

Meanwhile, first year premiums (new business) ballooned to P660.5 million, with the bulk coming from the sale of variable life single premiums amounting to P607.79 million. The rest are divided into traditional and group insurance.

Total group insurance has so far reached P285.6 million.

Robles explained that they purposely focused on the sale of variable life and limited the sale of traditional life products. “The market is awash with cash and they are looking for new investment options, as well as protection,” he added.

Late last year, Pioneer Life launched Pioneer Elite, which is a single-pay investment product with a lot of flexibility. The other variables are known as Enhance (regular premium), Embrace (single pay) and Essential (regular premium).

Single premiums continue to dominate the market accounting for 90 percent of total sales in the first six months of 2013.

Deutsche Bank’s trust department is the fund manager for the new investment products.

Robles said that the bulk of investments made through the variable life are in the equity or stock markets.

The insurer anticipates the market to move sideways for the third quarter as consolidation and “decision-making” gets underway.

Investors are repositioning their investments in pure investment instruments such as unit linked trust fund (UITF), mutual funds, protection through life insurance, variable life and medical insurance, equity and the bond market, and property/housing.

Robles said that they have been aggressively reaching out to the investing public to move away from the safe but low returns of time deposits. “The market has been used to guaranteed returns that are below the inflation level of three percent. Yet there are a lot of investment instruments that are available to the retail investors,” he said.

Pioneer Life is a member of the P1-billion and above group, in terms of total premium income. It is ranked 14th overall in a field of 32 licensed life insurance companies.

It is part of the Pioneer Group, including Pioneer Insurance and Surety Co., which is likewise in the top 10 non-life insurance firms out of the 79 licensed by the Insurance Commission (IC).