Generali PH targets 40% above-industry growth

GENERALI Life Assurance Philippines, Inc. targets a 40-percent hike in gross premiums this year, to be driven by more tie-ups with business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and locators in economic zones.

In a briefing Wednesday, Generali Philippines President and CEO Reynaldo Centeno declined to identify growth of their business in 2017, pending official release of the report by March 15. He, however, stressed the company’s

- grow industry growth.”

“We’re happy with the results of 2017... The growth in the last increases in domestic insurance companies’ capitalization.

To date, insurance companies are required to have a minimum capital of P550 million but this will increase to P900 million by 2019 and to P1.3 billion by 2022.

Centeno said the capital requirements are set by law so it must be heeded.

“The primary motivation there is to make the Philippine insurance market at par with ASEAN market... It’s the law, so we have to abide by it,” he said.

Generali Philippines Board Chair and regional head of M&A Strategy John Spence, during the same briefing, said the higher capital requirement is an assurance for policyholders that their needs would be met.

“It is important for companies to be capitalized for the long-term security of the policyholders... The scheduled increases in the Philippines, its objective is to enhance the security of the industry,” he said, noting that the P900 million capitalization requirement by next year is “still a relatively modest amount.”

Insurance Commission (IC) data show that Generali Philippines has a paid-up capital of P1.44 billion as of end-2016 and ranks 26th of the 30 life insurance companies that year in terms of total premium income.

Spence said their business in the Philippines “is one of the fastest growing businesses that we have in the region.”

He said the focus in the domestic market would remain on group life and health space, which is seen to be boosted by additional investments on technology.

“A very big focus will be particularly around industries where employers are interested in the welfare of their employees. And we see that in the BPO markets, in export markets, in technology-related businesses,” he said.

The domestic BPO industry is seen to take a hit from negative external developments but Spence said they are not bothered by this.

“For us it’s still a major market... We think the competition will drive employers to think about the ben-