Sun Life, Malayan lead in premium income

MANILA, Philippines - Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. and Malayan Insurance Co. Inc. led their respective insurance sectors in terms of gross premium income last year, data from the Insurance Commission (IC) showed.

Total premium income of the life insurance sector hit a record P170 billion in 2013 while the non-life sector reported total gross premiums written (GPW) of P55.6 billion, net premiums written (NPW) of P25 billion, and premiums earned worth P25 billion.

Based on IC data, Sun Life reported total premiums worth P29.6 billion in 2013, an increase of 48 percent from P20 billion in 2012.

Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) came in next with premiums worth P19.966 billion last year, a 32 percent growth from the previous year’s P15.5 billion.

In terms of first-year premiums (traditional and variable), Sun Life also led the pack with P2.865 billion, while Philam Life had a little over P1.9 billion. Traditional policies are pure protection product while variables are protection and investment products.

Meanwhile, Generali Pilipinas accounted for the biggest traditional business in first-year premiums amounting to P1.31 billion.

Overall, Philam Life had the largest traditional products sold amounting to P8.2 billion while Sun Life reflected the largest variable products sold worth P22.5 billion.

The rest of the top 10 life insurance firms last year were Philippine AXA Life Insurance, Pru Life Insurance Corp. of UK, Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils.) Inc., BPI Philam Life Assurance Corp. Inc., Sunlife Grepa Financial Inc., Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd., Manulife Chinabank Life Assurance Corp., and PNB Life Insurance Inc.

Of the 27 life insurers active last year, 16 reflected gross premium income of over P1 billion.

Of the total premiums, P121.9 billion were variable products and P48.3 billion were traditional products.