Sun shines brighter

The competition’s really on in the insurance business.

After successfully getting young and dynamic banker Lorenzo V. Tan on board earlier this year, Sun Life Financial (SLF) is fast making the inroads to wrestling the top post from the current industry leader.

I had a talk with an agent-friend of mine recently who not only did a pitch for SLF’s insurance product but also bragged on how well her company’s doing – and I’d say, the numbers are quite impressive. For the first six months of 2005 alone, SLF Philippines reportedly realized a net income of P1 billion, almost a 50-percent jump from its accomplishment in the same period last year. The Tan-Tan Tandem (of Esther and Lorenzo – no blood relations there!) now running SLF operations in the country has also scored victories across the company’s business interests.

A comparison of what the company’s achieved for the first half of this year with that of the same period last year, would show consistent growth in all key business areas: for its insurance business, total premium income grew seven percent, while investment income went up 20 percent. Despite all the brouhaha that hounded the industry during the period, the revenues of SLF’s pre-need business advanced almost 40 percent, while its mutual fund expanded by 45 percent in terms of gross sales. Now these figures motivated me to dig a little deeper into how SLF-Philippines‚ principal has been performing across the globe.

What I was able to cull about the company’s present standing only substantiated my agent friend’s breast beating. Sun Life Financial Inc.’s global president and COO Jim Prieur, who I was told was in the country very recently, is said to be fully optimistic about his company’s growth prospects in the Philippines. Latest global insurance figures reveal the source of Prieur’s optimism. Sun Life Financial recorded the biggest leap in terms of market capitalization, growing by over 540 percent last year, way ahead the advances made by rivals Manulife, MetLife, Nationwide, Lincoln, Generali and ING. Now what the market cap data would translate to is that if you invested $1 in Sunlife in 2001, that amount would have already grown to $540 by now! Following the demutualization of the company’s stocks several years back, recent valuation of its share price has registered gains of close to 250 percent.

Among the company’s five major markets in the Asia Pacific region, which recently snatched the lion’s share of SLF’s global life insurance sales from the US and Canada, the Philippines is the third largest. Globally, the company has been pinning its high hopes in the Asian region which now accounts for a third of its worldwide business. I also learned that proof to this stronger focus on Asia is the recent relocation of Prieur into the Asia Pacific region and the recent acquisition by SLF of CMG-Hong Kong, one of the biggest M&As of late.

Entrenching itself deep into the upper crust of the Philippine consumer segment as the country’s very first insurance firm in 1895, SLF-Philippines is said to be eyeing a significant share of the middle market – something that Lorenzo has supposedly started working on. Exactly how he will do it, together with his highly-motivated SLF-Philippines team, still remains a mystery but is surely something that we’d like to find out soon. From what I’ve been told, Lorenzo’s debut in a huge SLF gathering was welcomed by a jampacked crowd of cheering sales agents, all raring to give their counterparts serious competition. I’m sure rival companies are now keeping a close watch on what SLF’s next move will be. Could that be the reason why Joey Cuisia and his team came out in tabloid looking like a bunch of spies (complete with dark specs!)?

Everyone knows what Lorenzo has done to PNB, his immediate past employer, and the miracles he is capable of performing. From a heavily losing company, he was able to turn around the national bank much sooner than what its own rehabilitation program projected. Now with an impressively performing company like SLF, with no unnecessary baggage to take care of, I am pretty sure the so-called "Miracle Man" will be able to hit his mark much sooner than later.

Not Walking The Talk

Last weekend we talked about how the National Power Corporation is the largest contributor to the national debt. And that instead of trying to reduce its financial losses, it went ahead and borrowed another $400 Million (more than P22 billion), guaranteed by the National Government to pay for its debts and inefficient operations. We also touched, though briefly, on the fact that on top of the company’s mounting debts, Napocor officials allotted themselves some P1.2 billion in retirement pay and later rehired themselves as highly paid consultants.

The privatization of the NPC is mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA). Several years have since passed and NPC still subsists as a state-run corporation, saddled with huge debts and operational losses, and considered by energy analysts to be an "impediment to the industrial development of the country."

While privatization is seen by many as the solution to NPC’s financial woes, NPC appears resistant to change. For indeed, one cannot expect NPC’s officers and staff to voluntarily relinquish their jobs, perks and benefits. In fact, in a stroke of cunning genius, NPC personnel were mass promoted, then retired, and subsequently rehired!

For an entity that is already bleeding profusely, the payment of billions of pesos in retirement benefits to NPC employees who were later rehired is a scam of tremendous proportion for which heads should have rolled! So why haven’t the responsible officers been axed for such a brazen display of corruption? Worse, why are they still among the key decision-makers in the organization?

The Shell-Petron Ad Story

During the second quarter of this year, Petron launched Xtra Unleaded which according to Shell is a version of the latter’s Better Mileage gasoline. Shell responded with a campaign by re-affirming the quality and commitment from Shell Better Mileage gasolines. This prompted Petron to challenge its rival’s campaign with the Advertising Board of the Philippines, which recommended that our campaign be revised to reflect the following: first, qualify its mileage data by clearly indicating that the runs conducted were for 120 kms; and, second, change the line, "Estimated total kilometers in one full tank" to "Projected total kilometers in one full tank."

As Shell’s short campaign was ending by the time the Adboard recommended the changes, it maintained the signages and flyers until end of last month as originally planned.

But not one to take things sitting down, Shell challenged the full Petron campaign on the premise that their advertising was misleading and unsubstantiated. Last Sept. 14, Shell received the Adboard decision, which was in Shell’s favor and which ordered Petron to cease and desist from continuing with its Petron Xtra Unleaded materials.

According to the Adboard, the statement, "Power, Fuel Efficiency, Earth-Friendliness. In all these Petron Xtra Unleaded leaves other behind," is of a comparative nature presenting the product as better than all other fuels in the market and needs to be substantiated.

Likewise, it said the statement, "That’s 1,114 kms on just one full tank," is misleading when the line is used on its own. The statement, the Adboard stated, needs proper qualification when used in print and merchandising materials as to what type of vehicle was used.

The statement, "Power for extra miles," is unqualified, sweeping and misleading, the Adboard concluded.

There it is. So that the Filipino motorist will get to know which is which.

Stories Of Inspiration

Every once in a while, a good book comes along that manages to make us feel good about ourselves.

A rare collection of memories, personal accounts of hardships, of crossroads, of defining moments that turned their lives around, "Sketches" consisting of stories of inspiration from outstanding young Filipinos is a must-read amidst the hopelessness that has veiled upon many of us as everyday becomes harder and harder to get by.

Over 50 winners of the The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awards managed to share their very own thoughts and experiences in essays that speak of who or what had given them the courage and inspiration to go beyond themselves to achieve the extraordinary.

Sketches was the brainchild of TOYM Foundation president Butch Jimenez who won the award in 1998 for multi-media achievement. He says true stories have the power to change lives, and indeed stories of ordinary people succeeding and achieving the extraordinary make us believe in ourselves and our capabilities.

The stories are moving and told in a very personal manner. Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez for instance recounts how he had to ride with pigs and cows just to get to school while educator Queena Lee-Chua tells the story of a fellow teacher who spent her own money to give her students books and food. Some are humorous, nostalgic, but each essay is definitely a delight to read, and the book, a treasure to keep.

The premier edition of the book is available at National Bookstore outlets, so if I were you, I would grab a copy now.

Who knows, the next edition might include the untold story of boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao’s ( a TOYM awardee himself). Or maybe, Manny Pangilinan’s struggles or what his thoughts were when his plane crashed. That would be interesting.

In the end though, what is important is not how we succeed in life but how we lived our lives. According to Butch, life is all about staring challenges in the eye. And may I add, what defines us is how we end up dealing with life after these challenges don’t go our way.

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