BPI-Philam premium income up 12.4% to P6.4B in 2011

MANILA, Philippines - BPI-Philam Life Assurance Corp. generated a total premium income of P6.4 billion in 2011, up 12.4 percent from P5.69 billion in 2010, the company said in a statement.

BPI-Philam is a joint venture bancassurance company between the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philamlife).

In 2010, it was ranked sixth among the 33 life insurance companies that are licensed by the Insurance Commission (IC).

Bancassurance involves selling insurance products within the branch premise of a commercial bank, and includes access to the bank’s client base.

Presently, BPI-Philam is marketing 13 bancassurance products, or four traditional life insurance and nine variable unit-linked (VUL) insurance products.

VULs are life insurance products with investment features. These investment features are basically mutual fund-type investments in the equity or securities market, fixed income or bond markets, and a balance fund, which is a combination of equities and fixed income.

It likewise has a life insurance or protection cover equivalent to 500-percent of annual premium.

Banks generally earn fee-based income from the relationship, but it opens various opportunities for the bank. After all, the bank will inevitably be the bank of choice for the existing and new insurance policy-holders.