Phl unit among most important in AsPac -AXA

MANILA, Philippines - AXA, one of the largest global insurance and financial companies in the world, said it has ranked the Philippines is among the most important markets in its operations in the Asia and Pacific region.

AXA Asia chief executive officer Mike Bishop said the Asia Pacific region has slowly taken the key seat from the developed nations, adding that its Philippine operations ranked third in terms of profitability even though it is one of the smallest in terms of policies-in-force.

“Most of the capital has been redeployed to Asia,” Bishop said in a press briefing yesterday.

In Asia, AXA ranked first in terms of property and casualty (P/C) market (also known as non-life insurance), and among the top three in the region’s life insurance industry.

“The Philippines is an important part of AXA’s growth story. We see a big upside for AXA Philippines,” the regional chief executive added.

Overall, the top performers for AXA include Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. The other Asian nations playing host to AXA are Malaysia and India.

Meanwhile, AXA Philippines chief executive officer and president Rien Hermans reported a 59-percent increase in total premium income to P13.9 billion for the first three quarters of 2013.

Total assets under management (AUM) ballooned to P51 billion, an increase of 25 percent from last year, and a 58-percent increase in net income.

First-year premiums reached P2.8 billion in the first nine-months of 2013, an increase of 39 percent versus last year. Single premium grew 75 percent to P1 billion, while regular premium for new business grew 25 percent to P1.7 billion.

AXA Philippines, a bancassurance joint venture between the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) and AXA SA of France, also reported that 64 percent of its first-year premiums came from bancassurance or the sale of policies through the The company’s 1,850 agency sales force produced the remaining 36 percent of premiums.