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AIA Group is investing PHP3 billion (US$57.87 million) in its subsidiary Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. Inc. (Philam Life) to boost its agency channel over the next three years.
Philam Life CEO Kelvin Ang told reporters during a press briefing that the additional funds will be used to augment its agency force by adding around 5,000 full-time financial advisers. The insurer currently has around 8,000 part-time and full-time financial advisers.
The move will help address the huge protection gap in the country, which stands at PHP1.5 trillion (around US$29 billion).
“We will invest PHP3 billion over the next three years in building the agency distribution,” Ang was quoted as saying by BusinessWorld. “This is a significant amount… because in the past we’ve done investment in terms of building the agency more than what we want.”
“We feel that the market opportunity is enormous,” he added, noting that AIA has also made similar investments in other Asian markets, such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand.
The press briefing coincided with Philam Life’s launching of a new product, called AIA Critical Protect 100. The critical illness policy covers 100 critical illnesses from birth to age 100. This boasts longer coverage than other critical illness policies, which usually terminate coverage at age 75, according to Leonardo Tan Jr., Philam Life chief marketing officer.
