Sun Life Financial eyes PPP projects

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine unit of Canadian insurance giant Sun Life Financial is eyeing participation in the government’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program, its top executive said.

Sun Life Financial Philippines president and chief executive officer Riza Mantaring said they had been approached by a commercial bank for the possibility of joining a consortium that would be involved in an infrastructure project under the PPP program of the Aquino administration.

Philippine insurers are allowed to participate in corporate lending as part of their investment portfolio, although the larger portion of their fund must be placed in fixed-income investments.

Mantaring said Sun Life Financial has taken interest in making investments in infrastructure projects falling under the government’s PPP program after a meeting with President Aquino and his economic team.

Mantaring, along with Sun Life Financial chief executive Dean A. Conner and Kevin D. Strain, head of Sun Life Financial in Asia, paid a courtesy call on the President last Tuesday.

“Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima outlined about 10-12 projects that will be rolled out and we are certainly interested in participating,” Mantaring said.

 Meanwhile, she said Sun Life is highly optimistic of its growth prospects behind the combined strength of its agency and bancassurance distribution networks.

She cited that this was strengthened by their alliance with Rizal Commercial and Banking Corp. (RCBC) , is the country’s fifth largest bank , through a joint venture to undertake bancassurance or the sale of the insurer’s policies through the bank’s branch network.

In 2011, Sun Life Financial made corporate history by vaulting to the top of the life insurance industry in terms of premium income amounting to P13.9 billion.

Mantaring said in the first three months of 2012, first-year premiums have been duplicating the previous years growth rates.

“In fact, our variable unit linked (VUL) insurance policies accounted for 80 percent of our first-year premiums,” she added. VULs are insurance policies that are laced with investment products, or simply a protection and investment product.

“No. 1 to us is gravy, it’s not the number we aim for. It is being the best company. If we become No. 1 because of it, then that is the reward,” she added.