Pioneer Life gross premiums over 80% in first semester

MANILA, Philippines - Pioneer Life has reported gross written premiums (GWP) of P553.2 million in the first semester of 2010, roughly 81 percent higher than the P306 million reported in the same period in 2009.

Pioneer Life is a member of the Pioneer Group, which includes Pioneer Insurance, one of the leading non-life insurance companies.

In fact, the first semester GWP is higher by 5.3 percent than its original target of P525 million.

But the outstanding performer in the first semester was the variable products or life insurance spiced with an investment instrument.

From January to June this year, variables exploded by 734 percent, or from P10.2 million in the first semester of 2009 to P85.9 million.

First year premiums (FYP) of traditional life insurance products reached P48.7 million or 38 percent higher than the P35 million in the first semester of 2009.

An FYP is the actual collections made in a given period and is a good gauge of the life insurer’s performance in a given year.

Pioneer Life reported total premium income of P675 million in 2009, ranking it 16th overall in a field of 34 life insurers.

However, Pioneer Life president and chief executive officer Lorenzo Chan was excited by the performance of its newer and affordable products. These products such as the Affinity and Sparx catered to the youth, first-time savers and insurers.

Total GWP reached P189 million in the first semester of 2010, or roughly 400 percent higher than the P43 million recorded in the same period last year.

“Its all about the retail market today,” Chan said, during the launching of eLife, an integrated, full-featured and web-based core application designed for life insurance firms. Pioneer Life and Computer Professionals Inc. were the designers of the for-life insurers application, with the latter also acting as the marketing arm.

Pioneer Life expects to continue growing its traditional and variable products but emphasis is placed on the more affordable insurance products that impact on what Chan describes as “they are the ones that need protection.”

Chan said that Pioneer had been marketing micro-insurance before it became popular.

“We called it sachet life products,” the Pioneer Life chief executive said, adding that it was not just personal accident.

These are life insurance products that were cheaper albeit its coverage was likewise lower. To make it more attractive, these were packaged with a savings component, a personal accident or auto or fire insurance feature.

Chan said that they have packaged such products in group insurance form for security agencies. “Its coverage may not be in the millions of pesos, but the one to two hundred pesos coverage means a lot to the lower income segment.”

It has an existing partnership for micro-insurance with CARD Inc., the globally recognized microfinance non-government organization (NGO), as well as several rural banks.