Insurer rebrands Philam firm as ‘AIA Philippines’

AN AIA Group Ltd. subsidiary is being rebranded from “AIA Philam Life” to “AIA Philippines.” Following the rebrand, executives said their market will witness a continuing transformation of the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (AIA Philam Life) in the coming months that are aligned with the strategy laid by out by AIA Group Ltd.

AIA Philippines Chief Marketing Officer Leonardo Tan Jr. said the public can expect new offerings along with the rebrand, such as access to investing in technology stocks and green bonds.

“I know it’s a hot topic now—you know tech stocks, ‘FANG’ [Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google] stocks, ESG [environmental, social and governance] bonds, green bonds, sustainable investing—so a lot of these will be made available,” Tan told reporters.

Apart from the new offerings, Tan said they also want to expand their reach and ramp up their distribution channels, especially that customers are now availing products online.

Tan pointed out there was a “blurred line” when they were still using the old brand name because some people thought that Philam was a local company when in fact it belongs to AIA, one of the largest globally even in market capitalization.

Tan said “because Generations Y, Z and Alpha prefer global brands,” they hope that rebranding to AIA Philippines would help them resonate more with these customer segments.

“We will be targeting more value propositions for the Gen Y and the Gen Z. So, the rebranding will play into that part. It will be an ingredient in our marketing plan. So wider reach? Definitely, because, you know, in the life insurance space it’s about reach and distribution, whether it’s a partnership with the bancassurance company, or via our agency force,” Tan said.

AIA Philippines CEO Kelvin Ang admitted it was not an easy decision to push through with the rebranding at this time that the country is still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

While he recognized that things have already changed during the crisis, Ang said they still see more opportunity in embarking on this change.

“We think that rebranding will clearly signify that we are making change. And that’s also not just the way we deliver our service but also the way we represent ourselves, which is now AIA Philippines,” he said. “We want to clearly be in the new normal as we emerge from this pandemic.”

He also said they needed to evolve with the changing needs of their customers.

“The pandemic became the catalyst that accelerated our transformation. These changes—in our organization and people development, our approach to social responsibility and financial discipline, the way our customers experience our products and services, among many others—will all come together to help us realize our Purpose,” he said.

“At the heart of AIA Philippines, we continue to cater to the protection and long-term savings needs of our customers through relevant and innovative offerings. And with this, we remain true to our commitment of empowering Filipinos to live Healthier, Longer, Better Lives,” he added.

Last year, AIA Philam Life led the lists of life insurers with the highest net worth and highest total assets, with P78.44 billion and P291.22 billion, respectively, based on the unaudited quarterly reports on selected financial statistics submitted by life insurers to the Insurance Commission.

AIA Philam also had the fourthhighest premium income last year with P16.77 billion and it ranked second in terms of net income with 4.52 billion.

In terms of New Business Annual Premium, AIA Philam placed ninth with P1.86 billion.