ATR-Kim Eng Financial reaches full-year income target in 7 mos

After only seven months, the life insurance unit of Filipino-Singaporean investment house ATR-Kim Eng Financial Corp. has reached its full-year target in terms of gross premium income.

ATR-Kim Eng Financial, one of the largest non-bank investment companies in the country, acquired All Asia Life Assurance and renamed it AsianLife Financial Assurance Corp. (ALFA). It started full operations only last June as its restructuring started in the first quarter of 2003.

The investment firm is also operating AsianLife General Assurance Corp. (ALGA).

The combined gross premium income of both ALFA and ALGA has reached P400 million as of end July this year, already the full-year target originally set early this year. Of the total, ALGA accounted for P300 million while ALFA took the remaining P100 million.

ALGA is primarily focused on the group insurance and health market while ALFA caters to the individual life market.

So far, ALFA has been growing aggressively as it generated a sales volume of 1,000 individual accounts in the second quarter of the year, bringing its client base to over 42,000 in end-July.

Practically a third of its client base is in the teaching profession, which has also been a major borrower of the insurer’s lending products.

"We are among the top 10 insurers in the group as well as the teachers market," said Manuel N. Tordesillas, president and chief executive officer of ATM-Kim Eng Financial.

Tordesillas said they are looking at an average annual growth rate of 20 percent, which should place them among the top 10 players in the life insurance industry in three to five years.

So far, the life group has an investment portfolio of over P400 million spread out in government securities, equities, policy loans, special savings, properties, and commercial loans.

Capital base stood at P1.7 billion while total assets pegged at P2.4 billion. The group has 17 branches nationwide

Tordesillas admitted that it was an uphill climb as they had to restructure the former All Asia Life as well as re-tool the existing policies. "We only got the green light to operate in March this year," he added.

The effort paid off as it has resulted in 1,000 policies in less than two months. Incidentally, ALFA alone set a full year target of 3,000 policies.

All Asia Life ceased operating in late 2001 when it failed to raise the required capital level required by the Insurance Commission. However, it continued to service its existing policyholders until the time it was acquired by the ATR Kim Eng group. Its premium income at that time stood at roughly P220 million but also had a P240-million capital deficiency level.