INSULAR LIFE Assurance Co., Ltd. (InLife) posted double-digit growth in revenues and insurance premiums in 2018 on the back of the strong performance of its bancassurance channel and agency force.

In a statement sent to reporters on Wednesday, InLife said it booked P22.2 billion in consolidated revenues last year, up 13% from P19.71 billion tallied in 2017.

Net insurance revenues climbed 18% to P14.38 billion in 2018 from the P12.2 billion booked the previous year, while operating revenues stood at P7.8 billion, 4% higher than the P7.5 billion tallied in the comparable year-ago period.

InLife’s operating revenues came from investment income, dividend income, property rentals, sale of assets, as well as other forms of income.

“There were challenges along the way, such as the rapid spike in inflation rates, but thankfully, our revenue sources still posted growth rates,” InLife President and Chief Executive Officer Mona Lisa B. De la Cruz was quoted as saying in the statement.

Meanwhile, insurance premiums grew 18% to P13.98 billion in 2018 from P11.85 billion the previous year.

Ms. De la Cruz added that the insurer’s bancassurance channel with the Aboitiz-led UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc. is “now delivering results” on its first full year of implementation.

“Our bancassurance production grew by 53 percent versus the 10 percent it recorded from year-ago levels,” she said.

The life insurance firm added that its agency force ended 2018 “with a strong push” amid its improvements in technology.

“Our continuing enhancements on our automated underwriting system, which remains to be the only such technology in the domestic market, enabled our financial advisers to adapt this technology, which in turn exponentially increased our underwriting capacity,” Ms. De la Cruz said. “And this is one of the major contributors to the 19 percent growth of our agency production in first year premiums.”

Based on the data from the Insurance Commission, InLife ranked second among life insurers in 2018 in terms of net worth with P37 billion, third in assets with P130.4 billion and fifth in net income with P2.3 billion. — K.A.N. Vidal

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