Manulife Philippines is bullish on its growth prospects as it expects a double-digit increase in its performance this year, fueled by a growing population of young Filipinos and an expected faster local economic expansion.

“We do expect that 2025 and even our forecast for the future years continues to be positive and we are aiming to continue growing at a faster rate moving forward,” Rahul Hora, Manulife Philippines president and CEO.

This faster growth, he said, will be supported by the growing young demographic in the Philippines, which the insurance firm considers as the target market. “That market, on a year-on-year basis, keeps growing.”

Likewise, Hora pointed out that the country’s economy “continues to do well, which means people are going to become richer and hence [their] disposable income will increase.”

According to Hora, the projected double-digit growth rate covers all the company’s financial metrics, including premium income, net income, and new business annual premium equivalent (NBAPE).

Last year, Manulife Philippines’ premium income increased slightly by nearly two percent from ₱15.55 billion in 2023 to ₱15.83 billion.

Meanwhile, the insurer’s net income of ₱2.78 billion saw a 46.2 percent rise from ₱1.9 billion in 2023.

It also recorded an 8.75 percent rise in its NBAPE last year, reaching ₱2.86 billion from 2023’s ₱2.63 billion.

Manulife aims to stay ahead of the curve by ensuring that the firm “continues to invest our time and effort in understanding what the customers want.”

“We do a lot of research to first understand what the customers want, and then we try to bring products which are relevant to our customers,” Hora said.

“I think that, to me, is the most important reason why we are very bullish about our growth prospects in the country in the years to come,” he added.