SunLife client base reaches 5 million target ahead of schedule

MANILA, Philippines — The client base of Sun Life of Canada Philippines Inc. has reached five million as of end-2019, reaching the company’s target one year ahead of the schedule.

During the company’s 125th anniversary media conference yesterday, SunLife chief executive officer and country head Benedict Sison said the company has already breached the five million mark in its client base last year.

“You will recall the goal we set for ourselves at the end of 2015, when we aimed to serve five million Filipinos by the end of 2020,” Sison said. “Today, I’m happy to announce that we have successfully accomplished this goal. In fact, we achieved our target five million clients last December 2019, one year ahead of schedule.”

At the end of 2015, SunLife only had 1.5 million clients.

Following this development, Sison, in an interview with reporters, said SunLife is now finalizing the next phase of its expansion plan, which will be dubbed as SunLife Next. He said the plan would be launched next month.

“It’s to be very transformative but still be very grounded on our purpose of helping Filipinos achieve lifetime financial security,” Sison said.

Sison said the next masterplan would focus on deepening the insurer’s relationship with its existing clients, instead of acquiring new clients.

“We want to make our clients or clients for life. This time, we won’t only be focusing on acquiring new clients, we will deepen our relationship with our existing clients,” Sison said.

SunLife, being the first and longest-standing life insurer in the Philippines, is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

Going forward, Sison said SunLife is expecting to sustain its double digit growth in new business.

“In 2018, we grew over 20 percent. And in 2019, we also grew double digits, so we were able to sustain our growth. And our outlook, I think we’ll also be able to sustain the same double digit,” he said.

Sison said the company plans to launch new products this year, including the Sun Cancer Care, a specialized health insurance plan that provides cash benefits for the treatment and recovery of cancer victims.

He said the company has also made its SunLife Prosperity Funds available online.

Meanwhile, SunLife Asia president Leo Grepin described the Philippines as “crown jewel” of SunLife’s business, being the largest market in the region.

Dean Connor, SunLife Global president, also said the Philippines is a dynamic market given its high and sustained economic growth.

“We’re very pleased with the opportunity (here). We think the expected growth will be very strong,” he said.