The Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (Phils.) Inc. on Monday said it is still assessing the impact of the ongoing regional war in the Middle East on its business in the Philippines.
Rahul Hora, Manulife president and CEO, said, they are hoping that the situation will not escalate further.
“We’re really keeping our fingers crossed that it will not escalate to the point where it will become another, you know, a big disaster,” Hora said.
“But so far, things have been really good for us over the first couple of months, and things will continue to be like that for the rest of the year, if the Middle East crisis does not go beyond (what is currently happening). So we are all hoping and praying for that,” he said.
Hora said the company was trending quite well the first couple of months of the year. “And primarily the reason for that is that the local, domestic economic situation continues to be resilient,” he said.
The people’s awareness on its products and campaigns—on longevity and financial health—were high as many continue to invest in the products that it has launched.
He said the message that it wants to convey takes a while as the message has to reach out to the customers. And even if customers get those messages, they wait and they try to analyze those messages and see whether these products and propositions are really meant for them, he said.
“So we are seeing quite an increased trend around the propositions that we are focusing on,” he said.
As it stands today, Hora said the drivers of growth will continue to be long term savings and health proposition.
“Last year, we strengthened our health proposition by offering an additional product, which was a medical reimbursement product,” he said.
He said there is no single best product that will answer every a question the customer looking for, based on their own priorities and preferences.
So based on that, Manulife keeps on launching additional products to cater to a wider range of customer needs.
In April, he said the company will be coming up with another version of its products on health, which he said continues to be one of the fastest growing propositions for the company.
The other popular product is long term savings, especially with the new funds that it launched.
He said the company is also teaching its customers on diversification.
“We are seeing a lot of uptake of the products and funds which cater to diversification on long term savings. Our focus has really been diversification, because we believe that whether it’s the Middle East crisis that is unfolding now or even prior to this,” he said.
“We are in an unpredictable environment. We are in a economic environment where, you know, surprises are always around the corner. And that is why for any customer to or even for a organization, a financial institution, to predict which part of the world which asset class will be generating a good return for the customer is becoming increasingly difficult,” he said.
