Philam Life climbs to 2nd in PH market

Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) on Monday said it has moved up a preliminary industry ranking of the country’s top life insurance firms after increasing its total premium income by almost a third last year.

Citing an Insurance Commission (IC) report released last May, Philam Life said its total premium income rose 31 percent to P19.967 billion in 2013 from 2012’s P15.291 billion.

The IC’s tentative ranking of life insurance companies in terms of premium income for 2013 placed Philam Life on second position, behind Sun Life of Canada Philippines Inc.

In 2012, Philam Life ranked third behind Sun Life and Pru Life Insurance Corp. of UK, which slipped to fourth place last year.

The rankings were based on the firms’ submitted annual statements.

“[Philam Life’s] revenue increase is a good sign that the market is now seeing the value and benefits of securing life insurance products. This goes right in line with our mission of empowering Filipinos to achieve financial security and prosperity,” company president and chief executive Rex Ma. A. Mendoza said in a statement.

The executive attributed last year’s “significant” and “record” revenue growth to their “enhanced agency network, strengthened bancassurance channel (BPI-Philam), a complete portfolio of unit-linked products, and upgraded facilities for best-in-class customer service.”

From 1950 until last year, Philam Life has released more than P100 billion worth of benefits, the company said.

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

Early this year, Philam Life introduced the Health Invest unit-linked product, 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.