Pru Life premiums double in first half

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine operations of Pru Life UK had reported total premiums amounting to P3.2 billion in the first semester of 2010, or almost double the P1.7 billion recorded in the same period in 2009.

In fact, it is just a few million of pesos short of equaling the total premiums of P3.5 billion recorded for the whole of 2009, and the P3.4 billion in 2008.

First year premiums in the period in question reached P735 million or 126 percent higher than the P326 million in the same period in 2009.

Traditionally, the second semester of any given year results in better performance than the first semester. And for the United Kingdom-based life insurer, that could mean total premiums of over P6 billion for the whole of 2010.

However, Pru Life of UK chief executive officer for the Philippines Antonio Manuel G. de Rosas refused to speculate or make forecasts on the possible 2010 results.

“We simply hope to replicate (in the second semester) what we did in the first half,” De Rosas said.

Of the total first year premiums end June, 79 percent are regular pay premiums and the balance are single-pay. Of the total premiums in the same period, over 90-percent are variable unit linked (VUL) insurance products.

Pru Life UK is the pioneer in unit-linked products in the Philippines, with policies-in-force numbering a little over a 100,000 as of last count.

The chief executive attributes the outstanding sales performance to the recovery of the financial markets in the Philippines, and the strong sales efforts of its 2,100 sales agency and broker relationships.

In general, the country’s life insurance industry is also coming from a low base or the poor economic conditions post-2008 crisis. It is estimated that the industry practically stood still in the 2008-2009 period.

De Rosas said that the life insurer would want to establish a bancassurance relationship with a bank.

“But all the major universal banks already have existing bancassurance arrangements with other major insurers. And we understand that commercial banks are not allowed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to practice bancassurance,” the chief executive explained.

Bancassurance allows a life insurer to sell its products within the branch network of an expanded commercial or universal bank.

But de Rosas believes that there is still a light at the end of the tunnel as the growing number of players in the business process outsourcing or BPOs mean more high-paid individuals are seeking protection through insurance.

Or that those leaving the BPOs are potential recruits for the agency ranks of the insurance industry.

But Pru Life wants to grow qualitatively more than quantitatively. It is conducting training programs to ensure that its recruits are experts, professionals, and full time agents.

There are roughly 40,000 licensed insurance agents in the country, a number that has not grown significantly in the past six years.

But the Indonesia operations of Pru Life alone have more than 60,000 agents, while its Vietnam business practically equals the entire Philippine agency force.

Aside from the agency force, Pru Life depends to a certain extent on its broker relationships with Citi and HSBC for the credit insurance protection market.

Based on data released by the Insurance Commission covering 2009, Pru Life UK ranked sixth in terms of premium income, sixth in terms of assets, 11th in terms of paid-up capital, and seventh in terms of first year premiums.

Almost half of premiums generated by Pru Life UK comes from its Asia Pacific operations with the remaining balance shared between the UK, Europe and the United States/Canada.

Pru Life UK is a subsidiary of Prudential plc, one of the largest global financial institutions.