MANILA -- Allianz PNB Life Inc. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Olaf Kliesow is optimistic about posting another double-digit growth in the company’s premiums this year on the back of an energized national economy.
In an interview with journalists after the third Allianz-PNB tie-up anniversary Wednesday night, Kliesow said the company grew by 11 percent in 2017 and “probably” expanded by 15 percent in 2018.
He said they still do not have the final figures for the 2018 operations but based on the outcome as of the third quarter of last year a “low double-digit growth” this year is possible.
“I would expect for 2019, where the macroeconomic environment has been improving so far and it’s an election year, where economic forecast is also slightly higher than in other years, we’ll be looking again at a year where we see a low double-digit growth and we would expect to at least be as good as the market,” he said.
Kliesow said domestic output remains robust and this is expected to continue due to improved fundamentals. He said fundamentals remains sound and risks have declined since inflation has decelerated.
Rate of price increases in the country peaked at 6.7 percent last September and October and has slowed to 4.4 percent in January this year.
Kliesow also noted that the direction taken recently by US interest rates as well as global oil prices favor the Philippines. Another positive factor for the domestic economy is the demographics, he said.
The Allianz PNB chief said having a large number of young populations along with growing middle class are big boosts to the economy. “That’s why I believe the macroeconomic outlook would be better,” he said.
To date, insurance penetration rate in the country is low at only about 1.7 percent, he said. “There is still a large need for protection and insurance in the Philippines and that’s the driver of the growth (for the insurance industry),” he said.
Insurance Commission (IC) data show that Allianz PNB Life’s premium income went up 95.6 percent to PHP5.3 billion in 2017. This growth is way higher than industry average of 11 percent. (PNA)
