Philam Life gross premiums up 31% in ’13

Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (Philam Life) saw gross premiums last year rise by almost a third as demand for its new products picked up strongly.

In a statement, Philam Life said gross premiums in 2013 reached P20.1 billion, up 31 percent from P15.4 billion in 2012. New business jumped 62 percent to P11.8 billion last year.

The life insurance company attributed last year’s growth to “new business generation, strengthened distribution network, unit-linked products driven across channels, and upgraded facilities and systems for best-in-class customer service.”

“We had a winning year in 2013, mainly as a result of our efforts to drive new business amid the Philippines’ strong economic fundamentals. We aim to build on this success in 2014 with strategies that continue to be attuned to the needs of Filipinos,” Philam Life chief executive Rex Ma. A. Mendoza said.

Last year, Philam Life launched two new unit-linked products: life protection plan Family Provider, and life insurance and savings plan MoneyWorks. The company had also rolled out iPad-based sales tool Interactive Point of Sale (iPoS), as well as renovated a number of its customer service centers nationwide, some of which now have VIP lounges.

Early this year, Philam Life introduced unit-linked product Health Invest, which, according to the company, would address the lack of financial preparedness of most Filipinos for potential health problems.

Philam Life provides a wide array of products catering to a range of financial needs, such as education, health insurance, investment, life protection, retirement, savings, group and credit life insurance.

Philam Life is a member of AIA Group Limited, which claims to be the biggest independent publicly listed life insurance group in the Asia-Pacific region.