Union Bank, Insular Life forge bancassurance deal

MANILA, Philippines - Insurance firm Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. and Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines formally launched last week their bancassurance partnership after getting the go-signal from relevant government regulators.

The companies kicked off their bancassurance distribution partnership after receiving the approval of the Insurance Commission last March 8 and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last April 4.

“The IC is happy to give our stamp of approval to this bancassurance partnership between these two highly respected institutions because such partnership will surely help improve our country’s insurance density and market penetration,” IC commissioner Dennis Funa said.

“This, in turn, will help make our country’s average insurance penetration rate comparable with the more progressive ASEAN member states,” he said.

UnionBank president and chief executive officer Edwin Bautista, said: “We at Unionbank are very delighted to have received the regulators’ approval so that we can begin offering insurance products to complete our product suite to our bank clients to help them better achieve their financial goals.”

Under the bancassurance deal, UnionBank and its subsidiary, City Savings Bank, will distribute and sell the insurance products of Insular Life to its over six million bank clients spread over its 300 branches and offices nationwide.

Insular Life chief executive officer Nina Aguas expressed confidence that Insular Life would be able to further grow its business and claim the top spot in the life insurance industry with the help of this new distribution model.

Based on IC data, Insular Life was the second best performing life insurance firm in 2016, with P3.42 billion in premium income.

“Looking at all the suitors and all the potential partners, we thought that UnionBank came out superior. They gave us access to their 6 million customers and they gave us access also to their 300 branches nationwide,” Aguas said.

For this partnership, Insular Life will provide a different model for UnionBank--one that is tailored to fit the bank’s customer segmentation.

“Our approach is to look at the specific needs of a customer and to sell only based on what they actually need,” Bautista said.

According to Bautista, UnionBank is planning to hire about 200 financial planners dedicated to selling the insurance products in their branches.