A good year

The sun rises in the east for most, but for insurance people, that has not been the case in recent months. The sun seemed to have risen from The Enterprise Center (TEC) in Makati 18 months ago and has decided to stay there since then, enabling TEC tenant Sun Life Financial-Philippines to outshine most of its rivals in all its three business lines.

Our regular mole from the company recently told us Sun Life Financial Philippines has recorded impressive business growth across its pre-need, asset management and life insurance businesses in 2006. I was told that Sun Life’s three companies in the Philippines have quickly moved up their respective industries’ leader boards over the past 12 months, stunning their fiercest competitors.

After occupying the 6th slot in the pre-need industry until 18 months ago, Sun Life Financial Plans (SLFPI) ended 2005 in the third spot following the company’s launching of an innovative marketing and promotions program in October that year. From thereon, SLFPI continued to post triple digit growth every month in 2006, eventually snatching the overall number one spot in its entire industry as of August 2006.

In Initial Cash Brought In (ICBI) market share, Sun Life entered market leadership that month with a 25 percent share, bringing down erstwhile front-runners Insular and Philam. Unofficial data for the last quarter showed Sun Life managing to sustain its top position as it continued to record triple digit growth rates.

Sun Life’s remarkable performance in the pre-need industry becomes even more notable given that the overall performance of the entire pre-need industry was nine percent down as of September this year. Over and above these sales indicators, SLFPI also garnered the highest persistency score among all pre-need companies in 2006, recording a score of 86.5 percent according to data gathered and compiled by the Actuarial Society of the Philippines. Persistency scores measure the percentage of clients who complete their first year premium payments and persist and continue to pay their premiums on the second year of their terms. In simpler terms, persistency is a measure of client loyalty. The industry’s average persistency rating is a low 72 percent.

Also displaying an impressive showing in 2006 was Sun Life’s mutual fund company, Sun Life Asset Management Co. (SLAMC), which moved up this year from number three to two in terms of gross sales, overtaking its rival Philam. Closely affiliated with MFS – the company that invented mutual funds in the United States, SLAMC now has assets under management amounting to over P11 billion as of end-November 2006, a big jump from the over P7 billion turned in as of end 2005. More and more, Sun Life is becoming to be known in by financial customers as a mutual fund company than just a life insurance provider.

While the company’s life insurance business continues to be a strong second in its industry, Sun Life of Canada Philippines, Inc.’s (SLOCPI) sales in the entire year continues to show significant growth over last year’s achievements. For the month of November alone, known as the company’s President’s month, SLOCPI’s sales force registered a performance that delivered 103 percent of target in terms of agency credits.

So what has been the driving force behind Sun Life’s quick upswing in the financial services industry? Insiders say it’s the dynamic and aggressive leadership of SLFP CEO Lorenzo Tan. He joined the company exactly 18 months ago and that was when big things started happening to the company. Insiders say he is the best thing that ever happened to Sun Life, transforming the company from being a minor life insurance entity to the country’s number two life insurance player. PNB’s former "Miracle Man" is seen as the person who will bring the company to the next level and, true enough, he has so far taken them to a fast ride to the top in a matter of only a year and a half.

During the company’s Christmas party, Tan was quoted to have attributed the company’s fast growth to a marketing and morale boosting campaign that was conceptualized in commemoration of Sun Life’s 111th anniversary in the Philippines this year.

He says they have turned the anniversary number into a battlecry: Number 1 in Pre-Need, Number 1 in Mutual Funds and Number 1 in Life in the next five years years. According to Tan, 1-1-1 became both a catchy reminder and a constant inspiration to push forward and move on in laying down the bricks necessary to build a strong foundation for Sun Life’s future.

Given what the company has accomplished in the past 18 months, Tan is optimistic Sun Life faces better days ahead in 2007. He says looking back at their performance this year, Sun Life has made a quick journey from 3-3-2 to 1-2-2. He is optimistic that they will end 2006, number 1 in Pre-Need, Number 2 in Mutual Funds and a strong Number 2 in life. Some industry observers even say, they have actually reached 1-1-1 this year, if growth numbers instead of market share are used, in comparing with their major competitors.

With all these things happening for the company, all indications are clear that the sun is not setting anytime soon for Sun Life.

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