Generali expects 40% growth in gross premium

Italian life insurance provider Generali Life Assurance Philippines Inc. is targeting to increase its gross premium sales by 40 percent this year as it continues to focus on its group business.

Reynaldo Centeno, president and chief executive officer of Generali Philippines, said the company intends to outpace the 10.69 percent growth recorded by the entire life insurance industry last year by significantly increasing its sales.

“Last year, the life insurance sector grew by 10.69 percent with a premium income of P202.34 billion. this year, we intend to significantly outpace this by growing our gross written premium by at least 40 percent,” Centeno said.

Gross written premium refers to the total premium written by an insurer before any amount deducted for reinsurance.

to achieve this target, Centeno said the company would continue to focus on its group clients, with special emphasis on employee benefits. He said this strategy has garnered the company good results for 2017.

“Generali, for the last 18 months has focused primarily on employee benefits. that’s made up for group medical, group life and credit life,” Centeno said.

According to Centeno, Generali Philippines would continue to target niche sectors, such as the business process outsourcing companies, as well as locators in special economic zones.

He said the company recently diversified its products to also provide medical and life insurance coverage to small and medium enterprises.

“(We are focusing) on markets that are not really served well by big players in the industry. And we believe this is an opportunity and a good niche for us,” Centeno said.

Generali is also planning to introduce more comprehensive insurance and savings packages for its group clients, he said.

“We have expanded our product offering. We have introduced a comprehensive medcal coverage backed up by a nationwide network of medical providers,” Centeno said.

Centeno said Generali is planning to expand in other areas of the country, such as bacolod and Davao, as well as other parts of Visayas and Mindanao.