Sun Life premium income up 86%
Sun Life Financial Philippines on Tuesday reported a sharp spike in its premium income for 2012 as more clients sought out investment products, spurred by the strong economy and rising financial markets.
In a briefing, Sun Life officials said the country’s largest underwriter of insurance policies exceeded the P26-billion mark last year, for a growth rate of 86 percent compared to 2011 level.
The figure represents the combined premium income of Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. and Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc, the latter being a joint venture between Sun Life and the Yuchengco Group formed in late 2011. Sun Life Grepa completed its first full year of operations under Sun Life management in 2012.
Sun Life Philippines president and CEO Riza Mantaring described 2012 as a “stellar year” with Sun Life delivering P20.2 billion in gross premiums, while Sun Life Grepa brought in P5.9 billion.
Net premium income for Sun Life stood at P20.1 billion, while net premium income for Sun Life Grepa was P5.8 billion.
“The impressive results in 2012 were brought about by several factors: healthy market conditions; agency manpower growth; regional expansion and development of new products that catered to high net worth clients,” Mantaring said.
“Add to this Sun Life’s industry-benchmark customer service and the results clearly show that Sun Life continues to be the life insurance provider of choice of Filipinos,” she added.
Mantaring noted that Sun Life’s traditional strength has always been its “industry-leading” agency force, while Sun Life Grepa’s is its bancassurance channel, particularly through the Yuchengco family-controlled Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.
Bancassurance refers to the hybrid financial activity where insurance products are sold through a bank’s branch network.
“Around 70 percent of Sun Life Grepa’s total premium income came from bancassurance, which is considered the backbone of its phenomenal growth in 2012,” Mantaring said.
