Filipinos’ financial assets growing, says Allianz

The Philippines is outperforming the global financial assets market, but insurance penetration in the country remains the lowest in Asia, according to a report from Allianz.

The Allianz Global Wealth Report 2022, covering the asset and debt situation of households in 60 countries including the Philippines, found an “exponential boom” in the growth of global assets such as stocks, bonds and insurance from 2019 to 2021.

During those three years, Asia—excluding Japan—as well as Eastern Europe and North America were major contributors to asset growth and savings were powered primarily by bank deposits, insurance and pensions.

For 2022, Allianz estimates that global financial assets will decline by more than 2 percent, which would be the first significant decrease since the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis.

Also, for the next three years, the projected increase in global financial assets is 4.6 percent, which is less than half the growth experienced in 2019 to 2021.

On the other hand, the Philippines’ gross financial assets have grown by 10.4 percent, thanks mainly to the development of life insurance and pension assets. Insurance alone grew by 13 percent.

Even then, Allianz PNB Life chief financial officer Fang Siong Chong said insurance penetration in the Philippines was just around 2 percent.

“This translates to millions of Filipinos exposed to financial losses, and a protection gap that amounts to trillions of pesos,” he said. “But as observed, Filipinos are gradually investing in insurance protection products.”

Citing data from the Insurance Commission, the CFO noted that premiums surged by 25 percent in 2021, the fastest annual growth since 2016.

—RONNEL W. DOMINGO INQ