Manulife sees double-digit premium growth in 2015

MANILA, Philippines - The Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils.) Inc. has expressed confidence total premium income this year will outperform its 2014 premiums of P13.3 billion.

In the first semester, it recorded premium income of P6.9 billion up nearly 19 percent from the P5.8 billion it achieved in 2015.

Manulife Philippine president and chief executive officer Ryan Charland said that the country’s life insurance industry grew 49 percent in the first six months of 2015.

“We would like to stay in pace with the industry growth rate,” Charland said in a press presentation.

However, the bigger challenge for the Canada-based financial institution is to outperform 2013, the banner year for the industry.

In that year, Manulife Philippines recorded total premium income of P15 billion, while the entire industry hit an all-time high of P171 billion.

It fell to P168 billion last year, although insurers still see total premiums to challenge the P250 billion level this year.

Meanwhile, Charland said that its financial literacy and marketing campaigns as well as the introduction of new products this year would boost its lot.

“We introduced earlier this year our health coverage product and a variable life product with an education rider, and several affordable insurance products,” he told reporters.

The financial literacy campaign resulted in tapping the services of Richard Yap early this year, and now Sarah Geronimo.

“They are wonderful examples of Filipinos who found success when they started stories, and are now enjoying the fruit of that success,” the Manulife Philippines chief executive said.

The life insurer has opened a total of 37 branches nationwide, and targets a total of 50 by the end of 2016.

It also has 7,000 financial advisors (trained sales agents), not to mention a bancassurance joint venture company with China Banking Crop., know as Manulife Chinabank Life Assurance Corp.

The combined premiums of the Manulife Philippines and the bancassurance joint venture reached P18 billion in 2014.

In terms of overall ranking, Manulife Philippines ranked sixth and the joint venture ranked 10th.

Manulife Financial Corp., the principal of Manulife Philippines, is the leading insurance company in Canada.

Its global operations have assets under management of approximately $648 billion as of March this year.