“ASEAN Market for Cebu Based Insurance Firms”

The member countries of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) could be the vast market for Cebu based insurance firms in the next few months.

Insurance Commission (IC) Cebu district officer in-charge, Atty. Cesar Olaer, said so during the inauguration and opening last Friday of Stellar region, another new office of Manulife Philippines, a wholly-owned domestic subsidiary of Manulife Financials from Canada.

Olaer said that it could happen immediately in 2015, next year, since the ASEAN integration would then start.

He explained that being with the ASEAN, the Philippine based insurance companies, including those in Cebu could penetrate all the rest of the ten member nations; Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Brunei.

“By next year there is going to be that ASEAN integration wherein we will open up the cross borders of ten countries, meaning that we will be open to these ten countries,” Olaer enthusiastically revealed in his brief speech during the occasion.

He cited the opening of Stellar region headed by Stella Bernabe as timely, adding, he is privy to the information because along with the other IC officials in Manila and their ASEAN counterparts, they discussed ways to smoothen the regulatory and taxation concerns of the insurance industry.

“Probably Madam Stella will have agency branches in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia… and I will be going there to bless those offices,” Olaer quipped to the delight of the crowd.

ASEAN member countries will be henceforth called Asean Economic Community (AEC) where there will be free flow of goods, services, investment capital, and skilled labor in the area, insurance business, included.

BRIGHTEST STAR

Meanwhile, dubbing Visayas as “brightest star” Manulife-Phils. Pres. and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ryan Charland, hailed the office opening at the 14th floor of the Keppel building at the Cebu Business Park.

It is distinct from Manulife-Phils. Metro Cebu regions which already holds office for a long while at the 10th floor of the same building. The company has its training, underwriting, and business departments in the ground floor area of the edifice.

“It is kind of, our brightest star, the Visayas,” Charland, described, the semblance of the Visayas area.

According to the Manulife-Phils. top man, the opening of Stellar region, which will usher in additional agency leaders and adviser recruits, is in accordance with the company’s vision, reaching out to a more number of Filipinos regarding the importance of life insurance.

“This is completely in line with what we are doing here in Manulife. Our vision, why we are in this business is to talk to as many Filipinos and their families about planning for their future, and securing their future as possible,” Charland said.

Manulife Stellar region head Stella Bernabe (center) is flank by Manulife Phils. Pres. and CEO Ryan Charland (left) and SVP and CAO David Grant (right) during the recent inauguration of the Stellar region office. (Photo by: TONTON ANTOGOP)

MORE TO COME

Senior Vice Pres. (SVP) and Chief Agency Officer (CAO) David Grant for his part announced that many additional offices will be established in the future.

In Cebu, Manulife’s presence is already 46 years old, Grant recalled, as it started its operation in 1968 after setting forth in the Philippines in 1907. Manulife Financials was established in Canada since 1897 before they came into the country.

“Well done, fantastic that we open an office here and expand even further in Cebu and much, much more things to come. This is only the beginning,” Grant thus declared.

Satellite offices in the Visayas are already in the key cities: Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Tacloban, Ormoc, Tagbilaran, and Lapu-Lapu. It also conducted massive career opportunity recruitment in Bogo City lately.

The writer (center) along with Manulife Pres. and CEO Ryan Charland (left)  and Visayas Territorial head Bing Delos Reyes (right) during the inauguration of the Stellar region at Keppel building at the Cebu Business Park.

P13 BILLION COVERAGE/HIGHEST CAPITALIZATION

In emphasizing the impact of Manulife to its enforced policy holders, Visayas territory head, Bing Delos Reyes, for her part, revealed, that the amount of insurance coverage for Visayas alone, mostly in Cebu already reached P13.9 Billion.

Delos Reyes is confident that it will reach P14 Billion before the year ends as additional policy holders is expected to come in.

“We are already P13.9 billion and nearing P14 billion,” Delos Reyes told this writer.

The Stellar region head, Bernabe, on the other hand, is very well respected in the insurance industry serving financial institutions and other life insurance companies in the past before she joined Manulife in late 2010.

Since established, Manulife Financials has been in major countries and continents around the world. It has tied up with John Hancock in the United States of America. Its Asia headquarters is in Hongkong, China.

Manulife Philippines is listed as the “highest in market capitalization” in the Philippine Stock Exchange, across all industries, hitting P1.4 Trillion since January 2014.