INSURANCE PENETRATION. Pru Life UK president and chief executive officer (CEO) Antonio de Rosas believes that the company can help hike insurance penetration in the country through digitalization. He said offering of sachet-like products is also a plus to lower insurance premiums and make low income families avail of insurance products. (Photo from Pru Life UK)
MANILA – Insurance penetration in the Philippines, which is among the lowest in Asia at less than 2 percent of the population, greatly benefits from technological innovations, an insurance company executive said.
In a virtual briefing Thursday, Pru Life UK president and chief executive officer (CEO) Antonio de Rosas said there is a big chance of reaching out to almost 70 percent of the population through digitization or by providing products through mobile applications.
De Rosas said another way of democratizing insurance is to lower the price of premiums and make them affordable.
To date, those who can afford insurance products are those down to the middle class, he said.
“We’d like to democratize that and even offer products that are sachet in nature so that these simple products, which everyone, even those in the Class D (and) Class E market can readily access protection even from the remote places here in the Philippines,” he added.
De Rosas said allowing more people to have easy access to these insurance products will help Pru Life UK retain its ranking as the top in the country in terms of new business annual premium equivalent (NBAPE) in 2020 as announced by the Insurance Commission (IC).
Asked how this ranking would boost the company’s new sales this year, de Rosas declined to give any figures, saying that as a listed company, Pru Life UK is barred from giving out projections on this.
He said the pandemic accelerated the company’s utilization of technology in their operations.
De Rosas added digitalization fast-tracked the way the company sells insurance products and the way the company works.
“And even after the pandemic we can see that this change, the new way of working, the new way that we sell will actually shape the business in the times to come,” he added. (PNA)
