Stock News 2012: Manulife premiums up 60%

Insurance (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

Manulife Philippines has reported a 60-percent growth in total premiums and deposits in the first nine months of 2012.

Total funds under management ballooned to a record P58.5 billion, while wealth sales increased 169 percent.

Total premium income reached P4.98 billion in 2011 based on data coming from the Insurance Commission (IC). That implies that premium income, including deposits, is around P7 billion end September this year.

The Asia Pacific Bond Fund (APBF) contributed significantly to the insurer’s AUMs despite having been launched in October 2011.

As of end-September 2012, APBF turned out a 7.06-percent return year-to-date – an impressive feat relative to similar funds. This is also much better than time deposit rates offered by most banks at currently below one percent.

APBF is available through Manulife Philippines’ dollar-denominated single pay (Affluence Max/Affluence Max Gold) and regular pay (Affluence Builder series) variable life products.

As of end-September 2012, total subscriptions amounted to $26 million for the fund.

According to Manulife Philippines president and chief executive officer Indren Naidoo, insurance sales in the third quarter were stimulated by the availability of new endowment and whole life products.

Endowment and whole life products are protection products that usually result in recurring business as payments are generally paid over a long period of time, in contrast to onetime or single pay premium products.

“The enhanced anticipated endowment are the Freedom series for the agency channel and MoneyMax series for the bancassurance channel, and whole life or the Seasons 100 for the agency channel and Legacy Protect 100 for the bancassurance channel products with financial protection coverage and guaranteed benefits,” Naidoo explained.

Total policies-in-force stood at nearly 400,000.

The Manulife Philippines chief executive said that the insurer expanded close to 4,000 agents primarily due to its rapid and aggressive branch office expansion throughout the country.

http://philstar.com/banking/2012/12/11/884484/manulife-premiums-60

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