Sun Life of Canada led PHL life insurance sector in 2019

Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. topped life insurers in terms of New Business Annual Premium equivalent (Nbape), premium income and net income for 2019.

Based on unaudited quarterly reports on selected financial statistics submitted by life insurers, Sun Life Philippines ranked first with a total Nbape of P9.61 billion in 2019.

Insurance Commissioner (IC) Dennis B. Funa said in a statement that a life insurer’s Nbape is computed by obtaining the sum of the value of regular premiums from products newly sold in a specific year (or the initial annualized premium) and 10 percent of single premiums written.

“It is an international standard that the IC has adopted to more accurately measure the life insurance industry’s sales performance,” Funa said.

Pru Life Insurance Corp. of uk (Pru Life uk) ranked second with total Nbape of P7.67 billion followed by Philippine Axa Life Insurance Corp. (AXA Philippines) with P5.50 billion, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils.) Inc. (Manulife Philippines) with P4.36 billion and Bpi-philam Life Assurance Corp. (Bpi-philam) with P3.90 billion.

In 2019, the life insurance industry recorded a 10.64-percent increase in Nbape to P57.557 billion from P52.024 billion in 2018.

Based on premium income, Sun Life Philippines obtained a combined total premium income of P39.51 billion for both traditional and variable life insurance products.

It was followed by Pru Life uk with P26.97 billion, A X A Philippines (P26.24 billion), Manulife Philippines (P18.35 billion), Bpi-philam (P17.24 billion).

The life insurance sector achieved a total premium income of P233.916 billion, a 2.32 percent-increase from P228.612 billion in 2018.

In terms of net income, Sun Life Philippines also led life insurers with P8.21 billion in 2019, taking the top spot after settling for second place in 2018. Rounding up the top five were the life insurance unit of the following composite insurance companies: Philippine American Life & General Insurance Co. (P7.67 billion); Pru Life uk (P4.40 billion); AXA Philippines (P3.39 billion); and, The Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. (P2.94 billion).

For the same year, the life insurance sector posted a total net income of P36.127 billion, up by 25.76 percent from P28.728 billion in 2018.

Meanwhile, AIA Philam Life remained on top in terms of total assets, with P290.16 billion. Next on the list were Sun Life Philippines (P254.52 billion), Insular Life (P133.02 billion), AXA Philippines (P127.55 billion), and Manulife Philippines (P114.90 billion).

Total assets of the life insurance sector also surged by 13.41 percent to P1.424 trillion from P1.256 trillion in 2018.