Insurance firm targets to educate 5M Pinoys

CEBU, Philippines - Sun Life Financial Philippines targets to educate at least five million Filipinos in the next four years, on how to achieve financial security regardless of social classes.

In a press conference yesterday held at Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu, Sun Life Financial-Philippines chief marketing officer Mylene Lope announced that the company is introducing different programs to integrate financial literacy to the daily lives of Filipinos.

At present, Sun Life captures 1.3 million Filipinos availing of insurance and investment products offered by the company in a span of 121 years of operating in the Philippines.

Lope admitted that there is a huge work to be done by financial services providers to twist the culture of savings and investments, as savings growth still remains very low.

For over 100 million Filipinos right now, only about three percent purchase life insurance coverage for themselves, leaving insurance providers with huge market to tap.

Because of this, the company announced the introduction of its "Rise PH" campaign, a three-year advocacy aims to break the cycle of financial dependency among Filipinos.

The campaign, champions financial inclusion in the Philippines, where only a small percentage of the whole population utilizes financial products such as insurance and investments.

"Despite the bright prospects that the country's economy has, prosperity still hasn't trickled down to the more disadvantaged sectors of society. We have to address this," said Sun Life president and CEO Riza Mantaring.

In commemoration of Sun Life's "3rd Financial Independence Month," this June, the company also introduced a customized campaign called "Money for Life", a comprehensive financial roadmap which provides personalized financial plan, that will tailor-fit to different financial capabilities of a client, depends on life stages.

To help inspire the public to create their own Money for Life plan with a financial advisor, Sun Life created a 360-degree visual reality (VR) video, transporting them to different scenarios based on their chosen life stage.

The VR video enables the viewer to live the dream for a minute and be encouraged to start planning foe their future through money for Life and Sun Life's life insurance and investment products.

The Canadian insurance giant, which is one of the radical advocates for financial literacy is confident that it can help at least five million Filipinos achieve financial freedom by 2020.

Today, even as low as P20 a day, or P500 a month savings, one can already get a "term insurance", a coverage premium which is renewable annually. Retirement insurance packages however, vary depends on age, but investment could fetch within P2,000 a month.

At present, the over 100-year-old insurance industry in the Philippines shared by over 40 players, covers only an estimated 18 percent of the 100 million Filipinos, this already include insurance coverage imposed by employers as part of their benefits.   (FREEMAN)