FWD Life Insurance Corp. (FWD) saw its total premium income jump in 2017, outperforming the industry’s growth.
In a statement sent to reporters late Tuesday, the pan-Asian insurer said it booked a total premium income of P4.55 billion in 2017, almost 50% higher than the premium income it tallied the previous year.
The 2017 premium income of FWD outpaced the local life industry’s growth of 11% by more than four times.
The insurer also posted weighted new business premiums of P1.65 billion in 2017, surging 42% from the previous year. It also outperformed the industry’s 14% growth by three-fold.
“This enabled FWD to move up to a market rank of 10th in the Philippines, increasing its market share to 3.5% in terms of weighted [new business] premiums (based on 100% regular-pay and 10% single-pay premium income),” the firm added.
Total assets stood at P9.79 billion in 2017, while total investments grew to P8.83 billion last year, 73% higher from year-end 2016.
As of end-2017, FWD has been insuring the lives of more than 100,000 customers.
It also ended 2017 with 2,200 agents. It has presence in more than 300 branches of Security Bank Corp. as the insurer entered a bancassurance deal with the lender in 2014.
“FWD made significant progress in 2017 in our mission to become a leading life insurance player in the Philippines. We achieved substantial growth across most operating metrics but specifically in terms of customer numbers, total premium income, and weighted premium income,” FWD Philippines President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Grimes was quoted as saying in the statement.
“Our progress over the past three years and 2017 market outperformance continues to validate our challenger brand mind-set and our vision to change the way people feel about insurance.”
FWD launched its commercial operations in September 2014. As of end-March 2017, FWD is the highest capitalized life insurer in the Philippines with P2.3 billion in paid-up capitalization.
FWD is the insurance business arm of investment group Pacific Century Group, and is present in Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

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