SINGAPORE LIFE Philippines (Singlife Philippines) is targeting to grow its customer base to 150,000 by yearend and capture 10% of the overall market by 2025 as the fully digital life insurer eyes to expand its reach in the country.

“What we put ourselves as a target is that we do want to have, like 10% of the people with a life insurance policy in 2025 should be with Singlife,” Singlife Philippines CEO Rien Hermans said in a briefing on Thursday.

Mr. Hermans said they also aim to hit P350 million in annualized premium equivalent this year.

“We do not want to grow immediately to become a number one player in the market, but we do want to grow to be very significant in the number of customers we have,” he added.

The local unit of the Singapore Life Private Ltd. currently has two products in the market covering insurance against dengue and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and an income protection suite through GCash, which Singlife Philippines partnered with in October 2020. The GCash Insurance Marketplace, an online marketplace for life insurance products, was announced in July 2020.

Singlife Philippines said it had more than 32,500 policyholders and P34.2 million in annualized premium equivalent as of April.

The company plans to team up with two new digital network partners to expand its distribution channels and reach more customers, its top official said.

“We are always on the lookout for partners that can offer our products in their digital platforms. Ideally, there should be a significant overlap between our target market and their customer base,” Mr. Hermans said.

Singlife Philippines will also add two new insurance products to be sold through GCash, as well as introduce a direct-to-customer product allowing policyholders to take control of their finances, similar to the Singlife Account launched by its parent in Singapore in 2019.

Mr. Hermans said they will also be introducing their own variable universal life (VUL) insurance policies, minus the penalties in case customers want to end their coverage ahead of schedule.

He noted that the company’s target market is the country’s growing middle class as it focuses on targeted but flexible life insurance products that can be accessed anytime.

Instead of hiring agents, he said the company uses digital solutions to boost their sales and improve customer service while saving on operational costs.

“The big difference [of the company against existing players] is actually in the technology. We are able [to operate] on low costs, be very flexible and directly respond to the customer’s needs,” Mr. Hermans said.

Singlife Philippines secured its license to operate from the Insurance Commission in February 2020 to become the first fully digital life insurance company in the country.

It launched its first products later in the year. — B.M. Laforga

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