Sun Life Grepa expects 35% hike in bancassurance premiums

MANILA, Philippines - Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc., the joint venture bancassurance company between Sun Life Financial (Philippines) and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) of the Yuchengco Group, is looking to grow its bancassurance premiums by at least 35 percent to P7 billion this year.

Bancassurance also known as cross-selling, is a business relationship between a bank and a life insurance company wherein the insurer is allowed access to the bank’s branches and clients.

Last year, Sun Life Grepa’s total bancassurance premiums was valued at P5.8 billion, which was 88 percent higher than the 2011 premiums of P3.1 billion. The joint venture was only formed in 2011 and had already ranked eighth among the 32 life insurance companies in the Philippines in that year.

Sun Life Grepa president and chief executive officer Naresh Krishnan also reported that assets under management (AUMs) of its variable or unit-linked products reached P4 billion.

Variable or unit-linked products are a combination of insurance coverage and investments. The investment portion of the variables, or AUMs, are placed in funds invested in the equity or stock market funds, bond or fixed income funds, or a combination of the equities and fixed-income, more popularly known as balanced funds.

In terms of market share of total premiums, Krishnan said 70 percent of premiums came from the bancassurance distribution network, another 15 percent from its agency force, and 15 percent from group insurance.

The bancassurance distribution network is composed of 170 business specialist officers (BSOs) assigned to RCBC branches. “By the end of 2013, we will grow it to 250,” the company’s top executive said.

Sun Life Grepa launched yesterday its newest product, which allows investors access to investments in eight high-growth Asian equity markets.

It is a dollar-denominated variable life insurance product with 100-percent capital protection invested through a platform known as Sun Grepa Global Asset Builder (Emerging Asia).