INSULAR LIFE Assurance Co., Ltd. (InLife) expects sustained growth in 2022 backed by demand for life insurance and the use of digital platforms for transactions, according to the company’s top official.

Raoul Antonio E. Littaua, InLife president and chief executive officer, said the company saw significant new business premium increases last year.

“We expect this growth to be sustained in 2022,” he said in an e-mail.

InLife’s gross premiums climbed by 53% to P3.54 billion in the first quarter of 2021 from the same period a year earlier. The company’s new business annual premium equivalent had gone up by 42% in that period.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in 2020 slowed down InLife as lockdown restrictions hampered the company’s ability to sell insurance products usually sold in person. New business dropped by up to 50% in the first month of the lockdown.

This year, Mr. Littaua said heightened awareness for protection products will provide a tailwind for the life insurance business.

“By this time both financial advisers and their customers are adept and comfortable in using online and digital platforms so that services would not be disrupted despite the threat of lockdowns and mobility restrictions from variant surge,” he said.

InLife posted a P27.74-billion net worth in 2020, Insurance Commission data showed.

The company registered premium income of P9.77 billion that year, the 10th highest among insurance companies.

Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), Inc. led the industry with P39.23 billion in premium income that year, followed by Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corp., which posted P31.25 billion. — Jenina P. Ibañez

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