THE Philippine subsidiary of Munich, Germany-headquartered Allianz SE expects factors for growth, rather than risks, would bode well for insurers this year.
This optimism was expressed by Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc. (Allianz PNB Life) President and CEO Olaf Kliesow during the firm’s celebration of its partnership with Philippine National Bank (PNB). Allianz and PNB entered into a 15-year bancassurance partnership in 2016.
“We expect to continue to grow above market. We see another strong year for the Philippine insurance market coming up,” Kliesow said on Wednesday. “Two years ago, we had an 11-percent growth. Last year, probably something around 15 percent; I would expect for 2019, where the macroeconomic environment has been improving so far. And it’s an election year [this year].”
Kliesow further said that complementing the elections as growth driver is the “Philippines’s young population, as well as the opportunities that are being presented by the country’s low insurance penetration rate.”
“That’s why I believe the macroeconomic outlook would be better: inflation is coming down and that’s what we expect throughout 2019,” he said. “And the other big driver is the demographics and it’s also something that doesn’t change quickly. So you have a young population that is growing; you have the middle class.”
He added the company believes there is still a huge need for insurance in the country, as insurance penetration remains at only 1.7 percent as of third quarter of 2018.
“That’s the highest penetration the Philippines has ever seen as of third quarter.”
According to the Insurance Commission, Allianz PNB Life’s premium income grew 95.6 percent to P5.30 billion in 2017, from P2.71 billion in 2016. This was more than double the average industry growth rate of only 11 percent.
“We opened 2019 with a deliberate campaign to make [each] PNB client and depositor ask about insurance,” Kliesow said in his speech.