Philamlife's Cuisia retires by end-July

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co., the largest life insurance company in the Philippines, announced that its president and CEO Jose L. Cuisia Jr. is retiring from his post upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65 after serving the company for 16 years. He will continue in his current capacity as Philamlife president and CEO until July 31, 2009, when he will assume his new role as vice chairman of the Philamlife board.

Cuisia joined the company in 1993. Under his tenure, Philamlife strengthened its leadership in the insurance industry in the Philippines. Cuisia was instrumental in Philamlife’s diversification into affiliate businesses including mutual funds, bancassurance and property management.

Under his leadership, Philamlife received six consecutive Platinum Trusted Brand awards from Reader’s Digest Asia (2004-2009), making it the first and only financial institution in the Philippines to receive such a distinction.

Cuisia has been actively involved in the life insurance sector, having served as former president of the Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA). His able leadership earned him the “Chief Executive of the Year” in 2004 from the Raul Locsin Awards for Business Excellence in the Philippines and the “Asian Insurance Personality of the Year” in 2005 by Asia Insurance Review.

He was also the recipient of the “2006 Manuel L. Quezon Award for Exemplary Governance” and was named “2007 Management Man of the Year” by the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

Throughout its 62-year history, Philamlife has had only four presidents: Earl Carroll (1947-1969), Cesar Zalamea (1969-1981), Rodrigo de los Reyes (1981-1993) and Jose L. Cuisia Jr. (1993-2009).

Cuisia will be succeeded by Trevor Bull, who will take on the role of president and CEO of Philamlife, subject to local regulatory approvals. Prior to his appointment to Philamlife, Bull served as managing director of Tata AIG Life Insurance Co. in India which he led to become one of the fastest growing life insurers in the country. He has over 30 years of experience as a life insurance professional, having held various senior management position across Europe, Japan and Korea. He brings with him extensive knowledge and experience in insurance products and distribution channels.

Mark Wilson, AIA Group CEO and president, said: “I would like to extend my gratitude to Joey for building a robust business infrastructure that will enable a smooth integration of Philamlife into the AIA Group. Trevor’s successful track record in the highly competitive life insurance markets of India and Korea makes him uniquely suitable for this leadership role. I have every confidence that he will lead the management team to further accelerate Philamlife’s growth and strengthen its leadership in the Philippines.”

Subject to regulatory approval, Philamlife will be integrated into the AIA Group.

The AIA Group is a leading pan-Asian life insurance organization with a unique heritage of serving the world’s most dynamic region for 90 years. It provides consumers and businesses with products and services for life insurance, retirement planning, accident and health insurance as well as wealth management solutions. Through an extensive network of 250,000 agents and 20,000 employees across 15 geographical markets, the AIA Group serves over 20 million customers in the region.

The AIA Group has branch offices, subsidiaries and affiliates located in jurisdictions including Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Subject to regulatory approvals, AIG intends to incorporate the Philam Group of Companies, based in the Philippines into the AIA Group.