Travel, health, CTPL insurance now available at SM Stores
In a joint effort to make insurance more accessible to the public, BDO Insurance Brokers Inc. and insurance provider Pioneer Group launched a new program to offer insurance products at SM Store branches nationwide.
During a press launch yesterday, BDOI general manager and senior vice president Tracy Tan introduced the Insure ME@SM program, which utilizes SM’s Business Services center as the sales distribution channel for insurance products exclusively underwritten by Pioneer.
“We are happy to introduce Insure ME@SM, which is short for Insurance Made East at The SM Store. Customers can just go to the Business Services counter of any SM Store nationwide and ask about travel insurance, dengue insurance or even your vehicle’s compulsory third party liability (CTPL) insurance, pay for it, and activate the coverage right there,” Tan said.
Pioneer president Lorenzo Chan said the undertaking is in line with the group’s vision for insurance to be accessible and affordable to the public.
SM Store president Chelo Monasterio said the Insure Me program is also consistent with SM’s commitment to offer as many products and services to shoppers.
Under the Insure ME@SM program, BDOI and Pioneer are going to initially offer three products, including travel insurance, dengue insurance and the CTPL insurance.
The Safe Trip Comprehensive Travel Insurance Worldwide provides a medical treatment cover of up to P2.5 million, a personal accident benefit of up to P1 million and personal liability of up to P1.5 million. It also covers travel inconveniences, such as trip cancellation, flight delay and loss of baggage, and satisfies the Schengen visa requirement.
MediCash Dengue Insurance, meanwhile, offers a P10,000 cash assistance to persons diagnosed with dengue, even if diagnosis does not require hospital confinement.
Lastly, CTPL is required by law before a vehicle can be registered with the Land Transportation Office. This provides coverage for death, disability, and medical expenses caused by road accidents.
Chan said the new products, including pet insurance and accident insurance, would also be introduced as the program goes forward.
He expressed confidence using SM Store branches as a sales distribution network would expand the number of individuals served by Pioneer.
In the first year of the program’s roll out, Chan said he expects an additional one million individual customers from the eight million recorded as of 2016.