Singlife Philippines unveils 2020 plans with a new alliance

MANILA, Philippines — Singlife Philippines and its shareholders Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV), Di-Firm and Singapore Life Private Limited (Singlife) celebrated their new alliance, with the aim of pooling their skills and resources towards a commercial launch later this year.

At an exclusive media event held at the Manila House Private Club, Rien Hermans, president and chief executive officer of Singlife Philippines, introduced his leadership team and revealed the company’s plans to enter the market through existing digital platforms such as mobile wallets.

“Enabling customers of existing digital ecosystems to experience the benefits of insurance and offering them our unique propositions of fairly priced and reliable protection products will expand the market. With 24/7 access, transparent offerings, and value for money propositions, clients will be up for a new and more satisfying experience,” he said.

Walter de Oude, founder and group chief executive officer of Singlife says the joint venture with AEV and Di-Firm forms part of their commitment to “unlock the potential of money for everyone.”

“Singlife’s role in empowering customers to take control of their financial future is made possible through these strong partnerships. Technology is changing everything that we do and Singlife is at the cutting edge for our industry,” he added.

With Singlife’s unique fintech expertise in digitalizing life insurance offers, and with AEV’s strategic position across industries, Singlife Philippines is poised to claim its share in the local life insurance market.

According to the Philippine Insurance Commission, the life insurance market has shown significant growth over the past five years with total premium income growing 9% per annum and sales of new policies growing at approximately 15% per year.

However, the penetration of individual life insurance is still low at around 6% of the insurable market. This is expected to increase to 12% to 18% in the medium-term, fueled by an emerging segment of people purchasing policies for the first time.

A substantial part of this segment consists of people between 25 to 50 years old, with net income between P25,000 to P50,000 per month and a preference for online and mobile services.

Singlife Philippines aims to meet the financial planning needs of the new generation of mobile-first consumers who are currently already booking rides and shopping on their mobile devices.