Manulife doubles sales force by 2004

Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Philippines Inc. (Manulife Philippines) is looking at crowding industry leaders Philippine American Life and General Assurance Corp. (Philamlife), Sun Life of Canada (Phils.) Inc., and Insular Life Assurance Co. in the next two years.

Manulife Phils. ranked fourth in terms of total premiums in 2001 and it expects to expand its premium haul with the full integration of the Philippine operations of CMG Life Insurance Co. Inc. (CMG Life). It acquired CMG Life last October but its full integration including sales forces and premiums will be completed by the third quarter of the 2003.

It registered total premium income of P1.49 billion and entered the "Billionnaire Club" in 2001. Philamlife registered P7.8 billion in total premium income in 2001, SunLife P5.8 billion, and Insular Life did nearly P4.7 billion.

Reports for the 2002 performances are still unavailable.

Manulife Phils. president and chief executive officer Renato A. Vergel de Dios forecast that for the life insurer to crowd the top three means to have an operational and productive sales force of at least 3,000. It presently handles 2,300 agents including the 700 from the CMG Life.

"Our target is to have an operational sales force of 5,000 in two years," Vergel de Dios admitted.

To speed up the process, Manulife Life could acquire another industry player as a first option while looking to spice up its marketing arm through bancassurance. Bancassurance is basically the sale of insurance policies through a bank.

Last year, Manulife Life also acquired the policies-in-force of Metlife Phils., which pulled out of the Philippine market in the middle of 2002.