PRU Life Insurance Corporation of UK (Pru Life UK) targets to post double-digit growth in its customer base this year as the company looks to penetrate underserved sectors, its top official said.
“Generally speaking, we have been able to grow our customer base by 20-25% on average every year. So, we should be able to hold that trend,” Pru Life UK President and Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Chakrabarty told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of an event on May 29.
Mr. Chakrabarty said the company had about 1.75 million customers as of the first quarter.
“We will be playing a role in underserved segments. We will increase our penetration. We would like to be in the lives of many more customers than we currently serve,” he said.
To boost customer growth, the company is looking to partner with entities that have large customer bases, such as banks, payments companies, and retail companies, among others, he said.
Pru Life UK will also introduce products that take into account evolving operating conditions in the Philippines, Mr. Chakrabarty added, as the market’s current performance has not been “very inspiring.”
“The market hasn’t given the kind of growth that people or the customers expect to see. And hence, we are looking at guaranteed return products,” he said.
Pru Life UK will also continue to focus on the affluent and mass affluent segments, he added.
“It’s a very simple foundation on which we have built our business, and it has served us very well, so there’s no need to make any drastic changes,” Mr. Chakrabarty said.
“The important thing is we don’t build our business strategy based on what may or may not happen to the markets… We are here to serve long term,” he added.
Benchmark interest rate cuts expected to be implemented in the second half of the year could also boost the life insurance market as a “big chunk of the industry sales products happens in variable unit space,” Mr. Chakrabarty said, adding that the industry could see more people buying insurance products.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. earlier said they could cut benchmark borrowing costs once or twice within the second semester.
The BSP has kept its policy rate at a 17-year high of 6.5% since October 2023 following cumulative increases worth 450 basis points to help bring down elevated inflation.
Pru Life UK will likewise be offering takaful insurance once the Insurance Commission (IC) clears its proposed offering as part of its push to tap underserved segments, Mr. Chakrabarty said.
The company is one of two insurers, along with Etiqa Life & General Assurance Philippines, Inc., that already have Shari’ah law-compliant products prepared to offer, IC Commissioner Reynaldo A. Regalado earlier said.
Pru Life UK’s premium income stood at P46.19 billion in the first quarter, latest IC data showed. Its net income was at P4.36 billion in the same period.
Meanwhile, the life insurance sector’s combined premium income rose by 12.04% year on year to P87.66 billion in the first quarter, based on IC data. — A.M.C. Sy
