AXA Phils forecasts P16-B premium income for 2007

AXA Philippines is forecasting its total premium income to surpass the P16-billion level this year as the market continues to gobble up investment-linked life insurance products.

The company said total premiums reached P13.75 billion in the first nine months of 2007, almost equaling the original premium income target of P14 billion.

Investment-linked life insurance products, also known as variable or unit-linked (VUL) insurance, are basically life insurance policies with investments placed in mutual funds.

AXA Philippines offers variable products which are invested in the bond or fixed income market, the equities market, and balanced products that mix bond and equities.

“Returns in our equities investments reached almost 92 percent from investments starting April 2006 to October this year,” AXA president and chief executive officer Andrew D. Alcid said.

Total investments from its VUL already reached P23 billion as of end-October.

VULs in the bond market amounted to over P4 billion, another P1 billion in the equities market and P7 billion in balanced products. Another P11 billion are invested in fixed income investments that are dollar-based.

VULs accounted for roughly 75 percent of total premium income, with the rest coming from sale of traditional life insurance products.

Meanwhile, life products sold through the branch network of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) accounted for almost 80 percent of total.

The practice of selling insurance products through a commercial bank’s branch network, including its client base, is called bancassurance.

AXA Philippines is a joint venture between Metrobank and AXA Group of France, one of the world’s largest life insurance and financial institutions.