Metrobank insurance unit gets new name

Taipan George Ty has embarked on a rebranding campaign for his non-life insurance unit as part of a strategy to widen market share and capture bigger business from the dynamic Chinese community.

Philippine Charter Insurance Corp. (Philcharter), one of the country’s largest non-life insurers, will be renamed Charter Ping An Insurance Corp., top officials said in an interview Tuesday.

“Ping An” was inspired by the Chinese term for “safe and sound,” said PhilCharter president Melecio Mallillin, adding that the shareholders decided that the company would benefit from its rebranding after 52 years of corporate existence.

“Equity structure is still much the same. It is still owned 100 percent by Metrobank,” Mallillin said.

Philcharter or Ping An is currently the fourth largest non-life insurer in the country in terms of assets, estimated at about P4.23 billion in 2010.

The rebranding reflects the company’s plan to focus on serving the Chinese market in the coming years. At present, its Binondo branch is the best-performing among its 19 branches.

“We foresee an influx of Chinese investors,” said Philcharter senior vice president Ninoy Rollan.

Philcharter was originally set up by the AIG group in 1960 as Philippine American Assurance Co. In 1979, Metrobank acquired 75 percent of PACC and renamed it Pan Philippine General Insurance Co. (PanPhilGen) under the leadership of Edgardo Espiritu. It became a wholly owned unit of the Metrobank group in 2008.

On its own, Mallillin said Philcharter had performed well in the past two years, boosting sales turnover to P2.3 billion in 2011 from P1.7 billion a year ago and from P1.5 billion in 2009.

About 55 percent of its business is derived from fire insurance but motorcar insurance, currently with a share of 32 percent, is growing fast.