INSULAR LIFE Assurance Co., Ltd. (InLife) has launched a new insurance model in response to changing consumer needs to make more personalized products.

“We recognize that due to the [coronavirus disease 2019] (COVID-19) pandemic, more Filipinos have become aware of the importance of financial planning and life insurance,” InLife President and Chief Executive Officer Raoul Antonio E. Littaua said at a media briefing on Thursday.

The new insurance model, the InLife Agency Model (I AM), features Wealth Assure Plus, a customizable life insurance product with an investment component to provide a higher protection benefit equivalent to a minimum of 10 times the annual regular premium or the policy’s fund value.

This product may be customized based on the customer’s needs, such as attachment of other benefits, the preferred mode of payment, payout options, and access to fund selections, to suit customer needs.

“If your need is this, you want business protection, you want investments, you want education, you want healthcare, you are able to configure it so that, the end result is a product that is customized for you,” Mr. Littaua said on the sidelines of the event.

“So, we have to reconfigure the whole platform, and with that, a change in the model of the agency so that we are able to also be more effective in reaching our customers. That includes everything: the support that they have, the technology that they have, the compensation that they get.”

InLife said the model also aims help encourage young Filipinos to pursue a career in financial advising by offering attractive commissions and a flexible agency structure to help financial advisors advance their careers.

“Because one model, okay, you recruit agents, you make them do product pushing, In this case, no. [This will attract] more the younger generation, so we’re talking about financial advice, financial planning, as a long-term career, and not a raket (sideline) only,” Mr. Littaua added.

Mr. Littaua said InLife is eyeing to increase its ranks of financial advisors to 8,000 this year from 4,000.

Meanwhile, InLife also reported that individual claims in the first quarter hit P682 million, mostly on the back of maturity benefits and anticipated endowments.

Of this amount, individual death claims made up P206.5 million of 543 policy claims, with 261 of these COVID-19-related and 229 being death-related claims worth P94.4 million.

“Even as COVID-19 peaked in January due to infections brought about by the Omicron strain, InLife recorded fewer COVID-related death claims,” Mr. Littaua said. “However, we remain vigilant and observe all safety protocols but at the same time, we remain hopeful that things will get better.

Based on 2020 and 2021 data, InLife paid out about 9% of the entire insurance industry’s COVID-19-related claims. — Tobias Jared Tomas

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