Sun Life approaches ‘Route 5’ life on track

MANILA, Philippines - With just a little over 12 months, Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. remains on track to completing its five-year strategic plan ending 2015.

Dominated by the number “5”, Sun Life’s so-called Route 5 includes: 5,000 advisors/sales agent; P5 billion in combined net income; P5-billion annualized first year premium (FYP); and, P50 billion in assets under management (AUMs) in its mutual funds.

Sun Life Philippines president and chief executive officer Rizalina G. Mantaring said the life insurer already achieved and surpassed the advisor (now 5,400) and FYP targets.

“Sun Life alone has a P4.5 billion in FYP last year,” Mantaring said during the recent ceremonial turnover of 120 school buildings from Sun Life Financial to Children’s Hour Philippines yesterday.

In fact, the combined weighted FYP for Sun Life (Philippines) and subsidiary Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc. reached P5.96 billion.

As of end June, AUMs grew to P44.4 billion, or just P6 billion short of achieving 2015 targets. It has a customer base of 750,000.

Meanwhile, Sun Life Financial president and chief executive officer Dean Conner said that the gains of its Philippine operations reflect the global insurer’s positive outlook towards the Asian region.

“Asia is one of the four pillars of the global life insurer, and Asia has seven markets bannered by the Philippines,” Conner said in a press briefing yesterday.

The other “pillars” are Canada, and two markets in the United States.

He had reported earlier that in the first three months of the year, Sun Life Financial reported a 14-percent increase in underlying net income to $440 million.

“Our investments in organic growth across all four pillars are delivering results, with double-digit growth in insurance and wealth sales and record levels of assets under management,” Connor said in his recent quarterly report.

He also reported that the Sun Life Asset Management Co. Inc. (SLAMCI), or the fund manager of the Philippine mutual funds, entered into new distribution partnerships with COL Financial, the country’s largest online stockbroker, and Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom).