MANILA – The ongoing pandemic has not negatively impacted Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. (Sun Life) business and its executives assured policyholders that the company remains strong.
In a virtual briefing Wednesday, Sun Life CEO and Country Head Benedict Sison said the company has “not seen any significant surrenders or redemptions in any of our VUL (variable unit-linked) or any products on account of volatility brought about by this Covid-19 pandemic.”
“We continue to maintain an ample amount of liquidity so that in the event that we experience a spike in this area we’re able to service any potential surrenders or redemptions,” he said.
During the same briefing, Sun Life Chief Marketing and Client Officer Mylene Lopa, who presented the result of the regional survey conducted by their mother company recently, said 48 percent of Filipino respondents said they are affected by the pandemic in terms of financial situation.
In terms of the respondents’ recovery plan, 49 percent said they are somewhat ready, 27 percent are neutral, 13 percent are very prepared and has a recovery plan in place, 10 percent are somewhat not ready and the remaining 1 percent said they are not ready at all.
Lopa attributed the respondents’ answer that the health crisis hit their financial situation to lack of preparation and to Filipinos’ tendency to be shortsighted.
“Because we have so many concerns we don’t really plan. And also probably because we have so many concerns we don’t really plan that far ahead into the future. And we don’t always plan for emergencies or unforeseen events,” she said.
Relatively, Sison said they earlier expected lots of claims as a result of the pandemic but this has not happened so far.
He traced this partly to a lack of insurance coverage of those who were infected by the virus.
“And that, to me, is an indication that the Philippines remains to be an underpenetrated market for individual insurance,” he said.
He attributed this to the lower financial literacy of Filipinos compared to neighboring countries.
Authorities said insurance penetration in the country is still below 5 percent but it has improved compared in the past as more Filipinos improve their financial capacities because of having better-paying jobs and the country's overall economic expansion.
Sison said more and more younger Filipino professionals are becoming financially aware of insurance and investments. (PNA)
