Pru Life UK, a London-based international life insurance company, is set to be the first Takaful operator in the Philippines, as the insurer’s executives confirmed it will launch the product next month, April 2025.
Speaking to reporters during a roundtable discussion on Monday, March 24, Pru Life UK President and CEO Sanjay Chakrabarty said the insurer is preparing to introduce its first “affordable,” Shariah-compliant Takaful product, which is an alternative to commercial insurance, “to meet the protection needs of the Muslim Filipino community.”
“So without giving a specific date, I think sometime in April we should be able to roll out the product itself,” Chakrabarty said.
Takaful is an Islamic insurance system where policyholders pool their money to protect each other against loss or damage. It offers coverage for health, life, and general insurance needs.
Micro-Takaful or micro-insurance would also be among the Takaful products to be offered by the firm.
Francis Ortega, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Pru Life UK, noted that Takaful policies are comparable to the sizes of traditional micro-insurance policies, although he did not give a price range.
Ortega also said that a separate entity will be created to manage Takaful products and all processes compliant to Shariah or Islamic principles. But on its launch, Pru Life UK will allow it to operate first alongside traditional, commercial insurance services.
To recall, the Insurance Commission (IC) approved the Takaful window in November 2024 after the insurer had filed the product. Chakrabarty confirmed the insurance firm is “very close" to having Takaful products approved by the IC.
“And then we should be able to roll it out the moment we have the product in our hands approved,” he said.
“Meanwhile, we haven't been just sitting around. We have trained a lot of our agents in that area on the Takaful product, the concept of it. Because it's a concept that not everyone understands,” he noted.
“In 2025, Pru Life UK will expand its portfolio with new health and protection solutions to help more Filipinos achieve their financial goals,” the insurer said in a statement.
Now with over 200 branches and general agencies, Chakrabarty is optimistic that the insurance company will achieve a double-digit growth this year. He reported that Pru Life UK grew by 10 percent last year, faster than the industry’s seven-percent growth.
“We are hitting all metrics, like the new business annual premium equivalent (NBAPE). We’re also focusing on growing our in-force business, buying our virtual premiums,” Ortega said, noting that the company’s target remains: “to grow faster than industry.”
NBAPE is a global standard adopted by the IC as a benchmark more accurately measuring the domestic life insurance sector’s sales performance.
Pru Life UK closed 2024 with a total of ₱48.2-billion premium income, a ₱2-billion, or over four-percent expansion, from its 2023 total income of ₱46.2 billion.
It maintained the highest NBAPE among the country’s life insurers, but it stood at ₱9.8 billion in 2024, lower than the ₱10.5 billion recorded in 2023.