BPI AIA Life Assurance names Karen Custodia as new chief exec

BPI AIA Life Assurance Corp. announced last Monday the appointment of Karen Custodia as the new CEO of the bancassurance firm, which took effect last January 9. At the helm, Custodia takes on the responsibility of overseeing BPI AIA’S growing Partnership Distribution Channel and managing its strategic relationship with BPI while providing leadership to support a wide range of initiatives.

“I am both proud and humbled to take on this new role at BPI AIA as we continue to provide Filipinos with the financial protection they need and encourage them to live longer, healthier, and better lives. We understand our consumers’ changing needs and we will continue to invest in innovations to fulfill our strong commitment to making insurance accessible, affordable, and personalized for every Filipino,” Custodia was quoted in a statement as saying.

Prior to her appointment, she held the role of Head of Partnership Distribution Sales Channels at BPI AIA since 2014. Bringing in more than a decade of rich experience in sales, Custodia has a proven track record of driving impactful change in the company. In her previous role, she led a team of over 1,500 employees from the In-branch Corporate Sales, Direct Sales, Private Banking, and Telesales teams.

Under Custodia’s leadership, BPI AIA successfully implemented a new distribution model aligned with BPI’S customer and channel strategy. This feat has strengthened partner engagement and consequently increased the sales force productivity.

“Our partnership with BPI has grown stronger every year, we push on every day to protect our customers letting them love the lives they live. We look forward to working alongside them towards our common goal of building a better Philippines, one family, one community at a time,” Custodia added.

She previously led the distribution channels to shift from physical to hybrid interaction at the height of the pandemic. The shift helped curb the pandemic’s impact and achieve faster recovery while staying true to the BPI AIA mission of making insurance easy to get and easy to have for every Filipino.

Custodia replaced Surendra Menon, who served six years as BPI AIA CEO and was recently appointed as Director of Partnership Distribution of AIA Indonesia. Custodia will work closely with and will be directly reporting to AIA Philippines Life and General Insurance Co. CEO Kelvin Ang. Menon expressed the honor “to pass on the chief executive role to Karen.”

“Through the course of her career, she has demonstrated her expertise and knowledge, which have been key parts of many of the organization’s innovations and developments,” he added. “With her spearheading BPI AIA, I am certain that she will drive the company toward new heights of success.”