Health, disaster risks push Phl insurance investments

CEBU, Philippines - Unpredictable health and disaster risks have heightened the interest of Filipinos to invest in insurance products, as the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (Philam Life) noted a significant spike of investments in the last couple of months.

PhilAm Life senior vice president and head of marketing Jessica C. Abaya said that after the earthquake and the super-typhoon Yolanda that severely devastated Tacloban and other areas in the Visayas, people are now more aware to prepare themselves for any untoward incidents.

Abaya said the two big disasters were considered as turning points for Filipinos to take serious stance in making preparations and invest in insurance products. This is the reason why Abaya said PhilAm is beefing up its presence across the country, through training more financial consultants that would help educate further the market on the importance of getting an insurance coverage in different investment forms.

At present, the Philippines is experiencing a shortage in terms of financial advisers. Statistics show that there is only one financial adviser that can assist for every 30,000 Filipinos.

Today, PhilAm Life has a total of 9,000 financial advisers, 600 of whom are based in Cebu and the Visayas. This year, the company hits to train or recruit at least 8,000 more financial consultants to accommodate the strong interest from the market across the social segments.

  Due to competition and heightened interest from the market, insurance policies now are made easier and affordable. It is better to talk to a financial consultant /adviser to properly plan an insurance investment, depending on the affordability of the client.

“We would like to invite people to take a serious look of the financial advising career,” said Rolan H. Enriquez the firm’s vice president and director agencies for Visayas and Mindanao.

Enriquez said the insurance industry has evolved into a comprehensive full-scale financial advising type of career.

Since 2001, PhilAm Life has released P6.2 billion of education related claims, and P90 billion claims for other benefits.

According to data from the Insurance Commission (IC), a total industry premium income ballooned to P135 billion as of their quarter of 2013 from P82.6 billion in the same period of 2012.

Abaya said in order to take advantage of the fertile market for insurance in the Philippines today, the company plans to drive financial literacy programs in key markets through strategic partnerships.

“Knowledge and awareness are the first steps to financial empowerment. This year, Philam Life will reach out to more Filipinos through our financial planning programs in tandem with partners from key sectors---OFWs, parents, entrepreneurs, and employees,” said Abaya.

Abaya mentioned that health continues to rank as top financial need among Filipinos, while education and retirement place second and third respectively.

The threat the weather unpredictability also bolsters Filipinos’ interest to embrace the protection through getting insurance coverage.

“Right now, only 16 percent of Filipinos say that they’re financially prepared for health setbacks. And since Filipinos still prefer unit-linked products especially after the country was upgraded to investment grade, PhilAm Life launched a unit-linked health product early this year to address this key  unmet need,” Abaya said.

PhilAm Life Brand Tracking Study in 2010 revealed that limited accessibility is a key barrier for Filipinos who do not own a life insurance policy. Another significant barrier is the apparent complexity of how insurance works.

To bridge this gap, PhilAm Life commits to make financial planning easier and more accessible for more Filipinos by launching new programs and applications, and dedicating resources for initiatives that will enable the company to provide best-in-class customer servicing.

PhilAm Life is a member of AIA Group Limited, the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group, which operates in 17 markets in Asia-Pacific.