An official of digital-only insurance firm Singlife Philippines is optimistic for an improvement given the affordability and digital-access options.

The current insurance penetration in the Philippines remains below 2 percent

In an interview on the sidelines of the launch of the Singlife Insurance Microsite, a partnership between Singlife Philippines and Asia United Bank (AUB), in Pasig City on October 15, Singlife Philippines CEO Lester Cruz said stakeholders “have to do so much more” to increase the insurance penetration rate.

He said they do not really have a target number of clients to be onboarded through AUB’s electronic wallets (e-wallets), HelloMoney and Hello Pag-IBIG, but said they would be happy if around 3 to 5 percent of the bank’s around 7 million clients avail of the insurance products at least until the end of 2025.

Asked for possible drivers that would encourage the public to have insurance coverage, Cruz mentioned affordability, ease and convenience of accessing the products, and value.

He said being a digital-only insurance company is a plus since people are now more confident in using their mobile phones to access products and services at any time of the day.

He said education and information campaigns by way of joining events such as running events and bridal fairs help people understand the value of having insurance, he said.

“They're beginning to (realize the value of having insurance) as shown in the kind of customer acquisition that we're seeing month-on-month, which has been best than ever before. And I don't think it is just attributable to the hard work that we've done to create meaningful products, to make the customer experience and the customer journey really remarkable. It is also, I guess, speaks a lot about the strides and the progress that we've made in terms of educating the Filipino people,” he said.

Cruz said most of their clients are in their mid-20s to early 30s because “the relatively younger contingent of the population tends to be adapting to digital or new solutions more quickly,” but said they encourage more clients who are more than 30 years old.

In terms of government support to ensure that more people get insurance coverage, Cruz said the insurance sector, in general, is working closely with the Insurance Commission (IC) “to cover as many lives as possible, at the shortest possible time.”