BPI AIA sees stronger growth as economy reopens

BPI AIA Life Assurance Corp. sees stronger growth this year as the economy continues to reopen and amid the government’s improved management of the pandemic.

“We are very optimistic that the worst is over,” BPI AIA Chief Executive Officer Surendra Menon said. “Maybe fluctuations here and there, and we do not expect Alert [Level] 4 anymore. We expect to grow a lot more in 2022, with a lot less volatility.”

AIA Philippines Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Ang said compared to 2020, which he observed was full of “uncertainty”, he sees stronger growth for AIA in 2022 versus its performance last year.

“2022 is looking good, and with the better management of the COVID-19 situation and the economy recovering, we are very positive [about our growth],” Mr. Ang said. “We have a lot of optimism.”

He said AIA’s target for lives saved or policies claimed in 2022 is 110,000, up from the 80,000 goal last year, which he said is indicative of growth.

“The scary part of 2021 is the on and off of the delta variant. Delta as we know [was] very disturbing to our economy. But it was also a year where we look at things and say ‘let’s not waste a crisis,’ so we fast tracked a lot of our plans,” he said, noting these included its digitalization, BPI AIA’s rebranding — which merited positive response from their stakeholders — and environmental, social, and governance initiatives, among others.

According to Insurance Commission data, both BPI AIA and AIA Philippines saw lower assets, premium income and new business annual premium equivalent (NBAPE) last year. However, AIA Philippines Chief Financial Officer Gary Ogilvie said they see the two firms as one group.

“We look at AIA very much as a group and we seek to manage it as a group,” he said.

He added that the industry saw a robust 70% growth in single premium products last year.

“If you look at many of these products, they’re very savings-focused and very light protection cover. While we do sell single premium products, we are less reliant on it than the rest of our competitors, who are quite heavy on single premiums,” he noted.

Mr. Ogilvie said they also want to improve their single premiums.

“But in addition to that, we also continue to focus on the metrics that matter and we will never lose sight of profitability, because ultimately we believe that gives customers confidence in the long-term sustainability of our business.” — TJT