Sun Life retains top spot in 2017

MANILA, Philippines — Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. has maintained its spot as the number one life insurance company in the country in terms of premium income in 2017, according to the Insurance Commission.

Citing industry data, the IC said Sun Life has retained its market leadership with a total premium income of P32.11 billion last year. This was slightly higher than the P31.89 billion it recorded the previous year.

Sun Life was followed by Philippine Axa Life Insurance Corp. (AXA Philippines), with P26.18 billion in premium income, also up 21.65 percent from the previous year’s level of P21.52 billion.

Other top players in the life insurance industry in terms of premium income last year include the BPI-Philam Life Assurance Corp. Inc. (BPI-Philam) with P20.33 billion, Philippine American Life & General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) with P19.90 billion and Pru Life Insurance Corp. of UK (Pru Life UK) with P19.22 billion.

These rankings are based on the 2017 audited financial statements submitted by local life insurance firms to the Insurance Commission.

In 2017, the life insurance industry reported a total premium income of P202.77 billion, which is almost 11 percent higher than the P182.86 registered in 2016.

Meanwhile, industry data also showed that Sun Life generated the highest new business annual premium among industry players amounting to P6.64 billion last year.

AXA Philippines took the second spot with total new business premium of P5.36 billion, followed by Pru Life with P4.81 billion, Philam Life with P4.17 billion, and BPI-Philam with P3.88 billion.

New entrants FWD Life Insurance Corp. and East West Ageas Life Insurance Corp. ranked 11th and 18th, respectively, in terms of new business annual premium equivalent.

In 2017, FWD reported a total new business annual premium equivalent of P1.64 billion, while East West Ageas Life Insurance Corp. recorded P464.47 million.

Sun Life also took the top spot in the industry in terms of net income after booking P7.03 billion as of end-2017. The company sprung up from its seventh position the previous year.

Other top life insurers in terms of net income are Philam Life (P6.15 billion), Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. (P4.02 billion), Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils) Inc. or Manulife (P3.07 billion), and AXA Philippines (P2.36 billion).

These players accounted for 80.53 percent of the total net income of the entire industry last year.

Meanwhile, IC said Philam Life remained the life insurer with the largest asset amounting to P259.48 billion in 2017.

Sun Life came second with P232.77 billion in total assets, followed by Insular Life with P137.38 billion, AXA Philippines with P113.70 billion, and BPI Philam with P103.42 billion in assets.

Philam Life likewise recorded the highest net worth for 2017 with P77.53 billion followed by Insular Life (P38.27 billion), Sun Life (P27.28 billion), Manulife (P14.07 billion), and United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corp. (P7.56 billion).