Speech delivered by Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa at the 2018 Annual Awards Night of Fortune Life Insurance Corp. on March 14, 2018, at the Citystate Tower Hotel, Manila.
IT is a pleasure and privilege to join you in congratulating Fortune Life’s most outstanding sales producers in 2017.
The previous year has been one that we can all be proud of. Once again, the Philippine insurance industry reached new heights of achievements, ending the year with a resounding total assets of P1.56 trillion, premium income of P260 billion and net worth of P320 billion, of increments of 19 percent, 12 percent and 18 percent, respectively, from the amounts generated in 2016.
Other indicators consistently point toward positive growth. As of December 31, 2017, the insurance density (or premiums over population) grew by almost 10 percent at P2,477 per person; insurance penetration (or premiums over the country’s gross domestic product) also grew from 1.61 percent to 1.64 percent; and the life insurance coverage (provided by private insurers) rose from 46.22 percent to 52.07 percent, out of an estimated population of 104.9 million Filipinos.
Thank you, everyone, for working hard, for your persistence and dedication that has made all these achievements possible.
Starting the year on the right foot gives us immense confidence, inspiration and fervor to face up to the opportunities and challenges of 2018. And there is much to look forward to. As sales producers of Fortune Life, you are fortunate to have a management who, I expect, provides full support by providing you with appropriate business tools and resources, continuous trainings and education…and doubtless, makes sure that you are rewarded for all your efforts.
What is asked from you in return is that you continue to assist your policyholders professionally. As they say, it’s the little things that matter…your patience in explaining policy features and provisions, disclosure of critical information about the plan, helpfulness in filling out forms, keeping in touch and updating them about new plans or riders…. These are but simple courtesies but they go a long way in earning clients’ trust and giving the company, and the industry itself, a good name.
Your esteemed founder, Ambassador Antonio Cabangon Chua, had the foresight to recognize that as more Filipinos become financially better off, insurance protection against uncertainties will be considered an important need to be met. I believe that such a scenario is fast-becoming a reality, as more of our countrymen have become keenly aware and appreciative of the value of insurance. With determination and hard work, we may yet witness the full realization of your founder’s dream.
The Insurance Commission, as always, remains your humble partner in the industry’s journey toward our goals. Complementing your
efforts, the Office has been conducting lectures about insurance among students and ordinary citizens; and I myself have explored the use of media through radio and print, in hopes that we be able to reach a wider group of people who might understand and realize how important insurance truly is.
What do we see at the end of the road, for all these hard work? Barrack Obama tells us that “We see the future not as something out of our control but as something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort.”
And so to a better Philippines, to a better life for Filipinos and to a better us, we have our work cut out for us. But for now, we rest, we enjoy and we celebrate your resounding success!
Again, my congratulations to the awardees!
Thank you.