Sun Life Grepa premiums up

MANILA, Philippines - Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc. (Sun Life Grepa) has reported first year premiums (FYP) worth P1 billion as of end-March 2012.

Sun Life Grepa is a joint venture bancassurance company between Sun Life Financial (Philippines) and the Yuchengco Group of Companies.

Of the total FYPs, bancassurance products accounted for 60 percent while the combined agency, group life and work site units accounted for the remaining 40 percent.

Bancasssurance is basically selling life insurance policies through the branch network of a commercial bank. In this case, policies of Sun Life Grepa are sold through the nearly-400 branch network of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), a member of the Yuchengco Group.

However, the first quarter figures would be slightly lower if the international practice of only computing single premiums as 10 percent of FYP is adopted. Unfortunately, Sun Life Grepa could not reveal as of presstime the exact amount of single premiums.

Nonetheless, the FYPs are substantial if compared to the gross written premiums in 2011 of over P3 billion.

Sun Life president and chief executive officer Naresh Krishnan explained that the first three months premiums were “a delight.”

“With a strengthened product portfolio, beefed-up bancassurance channel, and operational efficiencies, we are very hopeful that the business will achieve more milestones in the months ahead,” Krishnan added.

Sun Life Grepa was officially launched in October last year following the sealing of the agreement between Sun Life and the Yuchengco Group allowing the former to acquire 49 percent of Grepa Financial.

 The outstanding growth in FYP was principally boosted by the introduction in the same period of three variable universal life (VUL) products also known as Sun Grepa Power Builder 1, 5 and 10.

VUL products are life insurance products that are enhanced with an investment component. In a VUL plan, premiums and death benefits are flexible and the fund value depends on the performance of the funds that have been chosen by the policyholder.

“The new products generated significant new business premiums,” said Naresh.

The joint venture company manages 126 bancassurance sales officers (BSOs) who have trained hard and facilitated this success. The company aims to have a total of 150 BSOs by the end of 2012. BSOs, or generically known as financial advisers, are based inside the bank branch but are employees of the life insurance company.

“We have a lot of plans and initiatives in the pipeline and we are optimistic about the future. If we sustain this momentum in the coming months, we have a very strong chance to be a top tier life company in the next two to three years,” Naresh said.

In 2011, the country’s life insurance company generated a record total of P70.7 billion in total premium income.

But industry leaders and the Insurance Commission (IC) have expressed optimism that 2012 will see another record set at P100 billion in premium income.