By CHINO S. LEYCO
AIA Philam Life said that the company is on track to meet its target numbers of lives saved and basic sum assured this year despite the uncertainty due to coronavirus pandemic.
Kelvin Ang, Philam Life chief executive officer
Kelvin Ang, Philam Life chief executive officer, said that availment of critical illness coverage remains steady this year, nothing that 30 percent of the company’s targets for both lives saved and basic sum assured have already been achieved as of April 30.
“Despite the challenges in Q1 brought about by a natural disaster and a global pandemic, we at AIA Philam Life have remained stead¬fast in fulfilling our mission to protect more Filipinos,” Ang said.
For 2020, AIA Philam Life is still targeting a ₱1-million coverage for 110,000 people, which translates to ₱110 billion in sum assured.
Ang explained that critical illness coverage has become more important today amid the pan¬demic that is now wrecking havoc on the economy.
“With the cost of getting seriously ill ranging from ₱400,000 for breast cancer to almost ₱2.8 million for lung cancer and ₱1.4 million per year for an average Filipino family to sustain a modest lifestyle, we need to work harder but at least we see progress in our efforts,” he added.
From 2017 to 2019, AIA Philam Life customers who availed critical illness coverage doubled, reflecting increased demand for protection against critical illness.
In terms of sum assured for death coverage, double-digit growth was observed, showing awareness for more meaningful coverage, Ang said.
Gary Ogilvie, AIA Philam Life chief financial officer, meanwhile, said the company had an excellent year in 2019 with its value of new business seeing strong double-digit growth due to product mix shift towards traditional protection products.
“Our financial stability also remains strong with our excess capital five times the amount set by the Insurance Commission and our net worth at ₱77.12 billion and assets at ₱247.03 billion,” Ogilvie said.
“Despite the global pandemic and possible downturn in economic performance we remain financially strong to weather the storm and support our customers,” he added.
However, Leonardo Tan Jr., AIA Philam Life chief marketing officer, said that they are also preparing for the implications and challenges of the pandemic as the country slowly prepares for its return to normal operations after the enhanced community quarantine.
Tan said that AIA Philam Life is expecting heightened awareness for protection, the prevalence of digital, and displacement of workforce due to social distancing restrictions.
“When we talk about protection, the most important concerns that we have to prepare for are medical, critical illness and life/ personal accident, what we call the protection trinity,” Tan said.
“With the launch of AIA Med-Assist two months ago, we have completed the trinity, complementing the previously launched AIA Critical Protect 100 for critical illness and AIA All-in-One for life and personal accident,” he added.
Tan said this will be complemented with a fully digitally enabled agency force and back end support, to provide seamless customer experience even with social distancing measures in place.