Financial Technology,Risk and Regulation,riskmanagement,technology,

Financial Technology,Risk and Regulation,riskmanagement,technology,

Philippine Axa Life Insurance Corp. (AXA Philippines) launched the first domestic Internet-based insurance product that offers Filipinos middle-priced protection and fund-accumulation resource in line with the company’s digital transformation.

AXA Philippines’s MyAmbition product requires one-time payment of P50,000 to P125,000 for those who want to avail themselves of an investment-linked insurance policy. Clients can choose among stocks, bonds or combination, called balanced funds, to grow their money.

The product that caters to individuals aged 20 to 60­—young professionals starting their careers or retiring employees seeking to fulfill their other life goals—is payable with a credit card on the firm’s web site at www.axa.com.ph, or the downloadable mobile application MyAXA.

MyAmbition is among the initial digital-insurance products designed by AXA Philippines to widen market reach among digitally savvy millennials and to comply with the guidelines of the Insurance Commission (IC) that encourages insurance firms to extend life-protection and wealth-management products through electronic commerce or online business.

“Our launch is about AXA strengthening its digital platform. Now digital is the way of life, not only a buzzword. As in other parts of the world, most of the transactions today in the country happen in the Internet. We know very well that the Philippines, as the Facebook capital of the world, is ahead in Internet usage,” said Rahul Hora, AXA Philippines president and CEO, at the product launch in Makati City.

“AXA Philippines is also very glad that the IC allowed us to sell insurance products online, and we want to be the first in the industry to offer insurance the way Filipinos want to buy insurance products,” he added.

According to the guidelines, insurance firms must only sell simple and straightforward products up to 10 items with a minimum payment of P50,000 and maximum of P125,000 each, or not exceeding a total payment of P1.25 million to individuals aged 20 to 60 who must present a proof of source of income.

The IC also prohibits switching of funds to various products. Hora said the firm will be upgrading MyAmbition to add payment options.

At present, the mobile application provides information on all products, fund values of clients and client interaction with agents and download and upload options of certificates, which other financial institutions require for application for other financial services, such as loans.

AXA Philippines is the insurance partner of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, which gained P21.6 billion in gross premium income in 2016 from its 811,000 clients.

To strengthen the firm’s services to clients, Hora said AXA Philippines is relocating one of its shared services center in Hong Kong to the Philippines, along with Malaysia. The majority of the employees will come from the Philippines, Hora said.

“We’ll be adding more features and moving our shared services center to the Philippines.

We will be increasing our people from 200 to 300 toward the end of the year. This is a great opportunity for us to also create employment for talented Filipino IT [information-technology] specialists,” he said.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker from Business Mirror