The company that formerly operated as AsianLife and General Assurance Corporation for over 40 years has changed its logo and identity and rebranded itself as Etiqa Philippines in alignment with its Malaysian parent company and to reflect the vision of “making the world a better place” along with its commitment to “humanize insurance” in the country.
In his speech at the grand launch of Etiqa Philippines that took place last November 5 at the Shangri-La at The Fort in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Etiqa Group Chief Executive Officer Kamaludin Bin Ahmad explained the journey of transformation that AsianLife has undergone is not so much a change of direction, but more an evolution to become an even better company to meet the market’s changing needs. As the new and rebranded Etiqa Philippines, he is confident that the company will be more than capable of meeting whatever challenges the future holds.
Despite the steady and continuous growth of the Philippine insurance market in recent years, insurance penetration within the population remains low at 1.76% as of 2018. Etiqa believes this presents an opportunity to bring new and innovative products to the local market while improving the customer experience for their existing customers. With this clear and inspired purpose in mind, Etiqa hopes to serve as a prime mover to help grow the entire industry, he added.
“Etiqa Philippines adheres to the brand manifesto of humanizing insurance, as it is our commitment to look at the human side of insurance, to go the extra mile for our clients and people, to go over and beyond the usual and excel in what we do,” Rico Bautista, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Etiqa Life & General Assurance Philippines, Inc., said at the launch.
“We offer a complete range of life and non-life insurance products like group medical insurance, group life insurance, protection insurance, variable insurance, education products, auto insurance, travel insurance, property insurance, and so much more. In all of these, we can provide fast and easy assistance to Filipino families. We want to make sure that our customers and their future generations are able to live a better life because of what we offer,” he added.
Humanizing insurance
As part of its rebranding and promise to “Humanize Insurance”, Etiqa will be launching policies to cover critical illnesses starting next year. This policy provides protection benefits against any of the covered critical illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, kidney failure and may also include mental illnesses like bipolar affective disorder, as well as other major depressive disorders.
As part of its thrust to enhance its digital footprint, Etiqa has recently launched its new website with e-commerce facilities for some of its retail products, and will launch its mobile app, Etiqa Smile PH which will allow their clients to access their coverage details, go cardless when they go to their health providers, request for letter of guarantee (LOG), and monitor their benefits and availments via the mobile app.
“In order to be competitive in the market, we will focus on improving our service to our clients, provide the best advice to customers, drive technology to improve efficiency in customer service turn-around time, and enhance the delivery of our products and services for both external and internal stakeholders,” Etiqa Insurance and Takaful Malaysia Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Eng Poh Yoon said in an earlier report.
CSR initiatives
Just a month before its official launch, Etiqa Philippines shared the “Gift of Smile” to the faces of recovering children with cleft lip and palate impairment. In partnership with the Craniofacial Foundation of the Philippines, Inc. (CFFP), Etiqa Philippines sponsored cleft lip and palate corrective surgeries for children last October 17 at the Craniofacial Center in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
The project, dubbed as “Sharing the Gift of Smile” is the first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative under the Etiqa brand in the Philippines.
“While we are very mindful that we need to grow our profitability as a company, we believe it is in our DNA to give back to the community. That’s why we have chosen CFFP as our partner in giving back to the community as it is an organization that will physically uplift the lives of people by providing surgeries to children who have cleft palate and lip,” Bautista pointed out.
A related CSR mission of the company was a Speech Therapy camp that took place last October 19 at the Craniofacial Center in Sta. Mesa. The camp, which brought Etiqa employees, speech therapist volunteers, and the recovering patients and their parents together, aimed to help cleft palate patients to produce speech sounds clearly after they have healed and recovered from surgery.
During the company’s grand launch event dubbed as “Thousand Miles for Million Smiles,” a video documenting the success of Etiqa Philippines’ Sharing the Gift of Smile CSR initiative was witnessed by attendees that included government regulators, market leaders, corporate clients, business stakeholders, and the media.