Philippines: Pru Life UK and GIZ GmbH partner to offer microinsurance products

07 Feb 2017

British Life Insurer Pru Life UK has entered into a partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the international development arm of the German government, to provide low-cost life insurance products and address financial literacy in the Philippines. This is targeted at the low-income sector and aims to ultimately reduce the protection gap in the country.

Pru Life UK will launch a new initiative to distribute microinsurance products to the rural communities of GIZ. Pru Life UK President and Chief Executive Officer Antonio De Rosas explained that the Philippines has a US$370 billion (PHP18.4 trillion) mortality protection gap, which translates to PHP600 billion worth of premiums annually (according to the Swiss Re Mortality Protection Gap Asia Pacific 2015 report). “The US$370 billion is the coverage that Filipinos should have but don’t have yet, and the PHP600 billion worth of premiums annually could have helped the insurance industry grow five times," said Mr De Rosas.

Dissemination to the community

Pru Life will work with community platform CommLinked to create online community portals where selected GIZ communities will be provided financial literacy advocacy materials, as well as learn more about and purchase micro insurance products.

This initiative, named “Micro insurance distribution through online communities” (MicroComm) is designed to maximise the Filipinos’ use of online services, which is estimated at 35 million users in mid-2014 and projected to grow to 70 million by 2018, according to the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines. It will also add value to various sectors and groups through the enhancement of business systems using online technology. The project is set to be rolled out to online communities in the third quarter of 2017.

Increasing Financial Inclusion

GIZ Program Director Dr. Antonis Malagardis, speaking at the media launch at the Insurance Commission office in Manila, said:  “GIZ is in the forefront of global innovations supporting micro insurance development. We provide advice to Insurance Supervisors and Policy makers on inclusive insurance, and initiate productive growth in the market through public-private partnerships. The MicroComm project seals GIZ’s commitment to utilise technology as one of the key drivers for financial inclusion.”

The partnership with GIZ coincides with Pru Life UK’s 20th anniversary in the Philippines. Pru Life UK currently has 17,000 licensed agents in the country, said to be the largest life agency force locally.