THE MANUFACTURERS Life Insurance Co. (Phils.), Inc. (Manulife Philippines) targets to grow its premiums and customer base this year as the insurer hopes to tap the younger generations.

“Overall, our key focus remains achieving sustainable profitable growth in 2024, and keeping the momentum of our health proposition as key driver to our success,” Manulife Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Rahul Hora said in an e-mail.

Manulife Philippines posted a net income of P1.9 billion in 2023, ranked at eighth among life insurers, data from the Insurance Commission showed.

The life insurer’s premium income stood at P15.54 billion last year, with its new business annual premium equivalent at P2.62 billion.

For this year, Manulife Philippines hopes to tap into the Gen Z and millennial markets as these generations have become more financially literate following the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Hora said, adding that the insurer saw an 8% increase in Gen Z customers last year.

Millennials and Gen Zs also now make up the majority of the Philippines’ population, he added.

“As they save to protect themselves and their families in case of unexpected events and they want to ensure they have enough money for retirement, we want to provide them all relevant solutions that are aligned with their goals and priorities while helping ease their anxieties about the future,” he said.

Increased awareness about insurance helped drive the double-digit growth in sales of Manulife Philippines’ health products last year, Mr. Hora said.

The life insurer also saw 70% year-on-year growth in average monthly agent recruits in the fourth quarter of 2023, he added.

Manulife Philippines will also continue to tap rural areas to expand its agent force and customer base, Mr. Hora said.

“As more rural areas improve connectivity and are seen to have a growing number of information and communications technology jobs, we continuously accelerate our digitalization efforts in our products and services, so they are more accessible,” he added.

Improving financial literacy and strong economic growth will help drive the life insurance industry’s expansion, Mr. Hora said.

“We are optimistic that the industry will continue to thrive, seeing that there’s strong growth momentum this year, and the economy has been rebounding since middle of last year,” he said.

Potential risks to the sector’s outlook would come from elevated inflation, which could mean higher for longer benchmark rates, he added.

Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.5% in 2023, slower than the 7.6% expansion in 2022 and below the government’s 6-7% goal.

For this year, the government targets GDP growth of 6-7%.

Meanwhile, headline inflation averaged 3.3% in the first quarter, within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2-4% annual target.

The BSP has said inflation may overshoot their goal in the coming months amid the expected impact of the El Niño weather event on food prices.

Faster inflation could cause the Monetary Board to push back their plan to bring down the policy rate from the current 6.5%, which is a near 17-year high, BSP Governor Eli M. Remolona, Jr. said on Monday. — A.M.C. Sy

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