Stock News 2013: China's Life Insurance Companies

Insurance (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)

China’s life insurance companies expect a lower growth on premium in the next year or two. Over the long term, insurance companies will benefit as they adapt to the changes.

Sally Yim of Moody’s said, “For now, the sector is experiencing the constraints from its previous focus on short-term and savings-type products, as well as a significant reliance on the bancassurance channel.”

Some of Moody’s assumptions are:

• Premium growth will lag behind China’s GDP growth
• Profitability will remain a challenge due to rising expenditures
• Insurance companies are exposed to the volatility of equity markets
• New businesses will be limited due to low premium growth
• In 2012, premiums were at 4.5%. Growth in household incomes will generate premium growths of 7.5% to 8.5% in 2013 and 7.0% to 8.0% in 2014.

The expected single digit low growth is driven by:

• Narrow platform for insurance companies
• Wealth products sold by banks as alternative to insurance products
• Increase in competition as more Chinese banks distribute their own insurance products
• Chinese insurance companies are moving toward risk-based liberalization of investments and products. This include moving away from low-margin savings-type products and focus on protection-type products.

http://pinoyfiq.com/pinoyfiq/financial-education/state-of-life-insurance-companies-of-china

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Stock News 2013: Villar Property to Sell Treasury Shares

Finance - Financial injection - Finance (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

The board of property developer Vista Land & Lifescapes, Inc. has cleared the sale of all the company’s treasury shares to take advantage of perceived strong investor demand and in a bid to boost liquidity, the Villar-led firm said in a disclosure yesterday.

“On Jan. 3, the board of directors of Vista Land authorized the company to sell all of its existing treasury shares totaling 133.91 million shares to meet demand from investors and increase liquidity of the company’s shares of stock,” the disclosure read.

Vista Land’s management team was tasked to determine the terms and conditions of the planned share sale.

“The board likewise authorized the implementation of all necessary corporate and other actions to proceed with the sale of the aforementioned treasury shares, and further authorized and empowered management to determine and decide on the price at which the treasury shares shall be sold,” the disclosure added.

The Philippine Stock Exchange defines treasury shares as “shares of stock which were previously issued and fully paid, but subsequently reacquired by the issuing corporation by purchase, redemption, donation, or through some other lawful means.”

Treasury shares are not considered outstanding, are non-voting and are not included in dividend issuances.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Corporate&title=Villar-property-company-to-sell-all-treasury-shares&id=63741

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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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Stock News 2012: Cocolife's 1st yr premiums breach P1-B mark

Insurance (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)
United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corp., popularly known as Cocolife, ranked as the second highest producer in the traditional life insurance business among 33 listed companies last year, according to a listing released by the Insurance Commission.

According to Cocolife, it brought in P1.087 billion in first year premiums, the only company other than Philam Life to have breached the one billion mark in the category.

Cocolife president Alfredo Tumacder Jr. said in a statement over the weekend that the company’s Healthcare business also exceeded its premium goals with the introduction of new products and enhanced services for their clients and partners.

Tumacder attributed the strong performance of the company last year to continued efforts to expand the market reach of its Individual business line, with the creation of branch sites in major malls and growth areas nationwide.

Cocolife’s Traditional Life Insurance products focus primarily on providing for the protection needs of the client.

“They are simpler and generally more affordable than most wealth management products yet offer highest value for money. More importantly, they are virtually immune to market fluctuations, which make them a safe and guaranteed investment in these uncertain times,” Tumacder said.

The company’s strong performance in this business line is a reflection of its renewed efforts to get back to basics which involves designing and selling products in such a way that the customer will have confidence that what they are buying is right for them.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=839455&publicationSubCategoryId=66

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Stock News 2011: Swiss Reinsurance to insure $250-million trade financing of ADB

Image via Wikipedia
s part of an innovative agreement to boost exports and imports in developing Asia, re-insurance giant Swiss Re will insure $250 million of trade finance conducted via the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) trade finance program.

The move marks the first time that the Swiss Re Group, through its commercial insurance unit Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, has provided insurance via a trade program run by a multilateral development bank and also the first time ADB’s Trade Finance Program has offset risk with a private insurance company.

Asia’s economy is growing rapidly, but that is largely due to the exporting prowess of a handful of countries led by the People’s Republic of China, along with a few others such as the Republic of Korea and Singapore.

Many other Asian nations, by contrast, find it difficult to export or import key goods because they struggle to get the trade finance they need from international and local banks.

To fill that gap, the ADB’s Trade Finance Program provides guarantees and loans to banks to enable them to provide trade finance, particularly in so-called frontier economies.

http://mb.com.ph/articles/325896/swiss-reinsurance-insure-250million-trade-financing-adb

Stock News 2011: GPLAC gears up for expansion after record year in profitability

Image by Leader Nancy Pelosi via Flickr
Generali Pilipinas Life Assurance Company (GPLAC) described 2010 as a record year in terms of profitability following the strategic focus it successfully implemented on its bancassurance distribution channel.

Central to this strategic focus was a dramatic shift from single-pay plans to selling products with recurring premiums, a move purposely designed to create a steady source of premium income, and thus resulting to stable profits for the company.

The company’s bancassurance operations showed an impressive growth of more than 167% in terms of new business recurring premiums to P550 million from P205 million the year before. Group insurance premiums also climbed up 21 percent at the end of 2010.

"Now that we have successfully enhanced our business model, with a much better equipped bancassurance sales force, coupled with a steady and profitable group insurance customer base, this company can look forward to sustainable long-term growth, " said Generali chief executive Renato Vergel De Dios. "We are committed to continually strengthen our financial position and deliver value to our clients and stakeholders."

The strong performance of GPLAC in 2010 continued in the first quarter of this year, posting significant increases in premiums from its individual business and group business by 64 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/322249/gplac-gear

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Stock News 2010: Insular Life energy-linked product generates P700 M

Insular Life’s latest investment-linked insurance product offer, the i-Dollar Energy 5 was a best-seller.

Launched last October 18 and available only until November 8, Insular’s i-Dollar Energy 5 was a principal-protected, 5 years to mature, single premium US dollar-denominated variable life insurance policy that provided investment opportunities in the international energy sector through key equity indexes.

Aside from the appeal of the underlying investment asset because of growing global demand for traditional and alternative energy, the product also had a novel “look-back” feature wherein the four lowest quarterly observation values would be dropped, thus further raising the upside potential return to the investor.

Insular Life’s latest special product offering was so well-received that it generated almost $16 million, or approximately P700 million in new premium revenues. This was more than five times the target volume initially set.

The response was unprecedented and eclipsed all previous sales records for the company’s limited product campaigns.

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/290064/in

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