Asian economies, including the Philippines, have been identified as one of the primary overall growth drivers of international insurance firms, separate disclosures to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday showed.
The Asian segments of both Manulife Financial Corp. and Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) registered strong growth numbers for their respective companies in the fourth quarter last year.
For Manulife, its Asian division delivered a 28-percent increase in insurance sales and a 56-percent increase in wealth and asset-management gross flows.
“In Asia, we achieved our third consecutive year of record insurance sales, reflecting the success of product and marketing initiatives and expansion of our distribution channels,” Manulife said.
In terms of its hefty growth in wealth and asset-management gross flows, Manulife attributed the increase to strong growth in mutual fund sales.
“We delivered continued strong growth in core earnings and new business value in 2015, achieving core earnings above $1 billion for the first time. This was driven by a clear focus on meeting the wealth and insurance needs of our customers across Asia, continuing to innovate across product delivery and customer engagement and extending our distribution reach,” said Roy Gori, senior executive vice president and general manager, Asia Division.
Meanwhile, for SLF in Asia, individual life insurance sales were also in the double digits at 16 percent up in 2015, as sales increased across the region, except in China and India.
Agency sales growth in the Philippines also hit 16 percent, while Indonesia and Vietnam recorded growth of 23 percent and 85 percent, respectively.
“SLF Asia had a strong year, finishing with underlying net income of $252 million and increased insurance and wealth sales for 2015,” said Dean Connor, president and CEO of SLF.