Manulife registers 16% premium growth in 1st semester

Canadian insurer Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Philippines Inc. (Manulife Philippines) reported a 16-percent growth in total premiums.

In terms of new sales, Manulife Philippines reported a 39-percent increase in the first semester of the year compared to the same period last year. In the second quarter alone, first-year premiums grew by 54 percent over the previous three months.

"This fortifies the gains we reported last quarter as we now end the first half with a respectable 39-percent growth rate in total sales," Manulife Phils. president and chief executive officer Renato A. Vergel de Dios reported.

Vergel de Dios attributed the positive growth to the expansion of its sales force which is targeted to grow to 1,000 full-time insurance professionals by end 2002. He added that: "We are deeply committed to this initiative and we will continue to focus our resources to attainment of this objective."

As of end December 2000, its sales force numbered 650 from a mere 400 the year before.

Last year, it registered a P500-million net income in 2000. Its first year premium income in the same period grew by around 23 to 24 percent growth.

Vergel de Dios explained that Manulife Financial has put a lot of emphasis in the development and training of its agency network to peak this year in a bid to solidify and hopefully improve its market standings in the industry.

"We can not afford to be a small company in terms of agency networking after we became a publicly-listed company. Size is what is important, and what has limited us from being a bigger insurance company is our agency network."

Industry leader Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) has the biggest agency force numbering over 6,000 nationwide.

Vergel de Dios explained that the concept of an agent’s role has revolved from merely selling insurance policies to becoming what the industry calls personal financial advisors.

Likewise, the insurance products are more complex and proactive to the financial needs of the policyholders. It does not merely protect the policyholder and its beneficiary but it even allows the policy to grow.

The entry of more foreign players in the life insurance industry meanwhile has forced existing players especially the local ones to step up its activities including expanding its agency networks. Of the 40 licensed insurers, nearly a third have foreign principals of strategic partners not to mention alliances with thrift or commercial banks.– TPT