In a statement, AXA Philippines noted that the 25-per cent growth in total premium income from P18.4 billion in 2014 was faster than the 19-per cent expansion posted by the entire insurance industry.

The joint venture between AXA and the Metrobank Group added that it improved its market share to 12.1 per cent in 2015 from 11.6 per cent a year ago.

“Both distribution channels of AXA Philippines showed equally strong increases in new business sales, measured in Annual Premium Equivalent (APE), reaching P4.76 billion in 2015, a 21-per cent increase from the year before. Two-thirds of sales came from the bancassurance channel, while the remaining third came from the agency channel,” it said.

AXA Philippines attributed the growth in the bancassurance business to “strong market growth in the first six months of single premium investment products.” Agency sales, meanwhile, were boosted by the new branches opened and the increase in the number of agents to 2,700 at end-2015, AXA Philippines said.

“In terms of total premium income, 66 per cent originated from single premium investment products, slightly above the market mix of about 55 per cent coming from single-pay, mainly as a result of the strong partnerships AXA Philippines has with Metrobank and PSBank as distribution channels. AXA’s growth rate for single premiums, however, was at par with the market,” it said.

Last year’s regular premium income also increased by a fourth to P7.8 billion. “Main contributors to this development were the second-generation unit-linked products, Axelerator and Life Basix, which are offered as solutions for education and retirement funding and at the same time offer protection. Another product that showed strong growth was the Health Max product, which provides financial support from medical costs arising from a diagnosis of any of 56 major critical illnesses, up to age 100,” AXA Philippines said.

It said a substantial increase in premium stream, assets under management and risk insured helped grow its 2015 net income by 13 per cent to P1.4 billion.

“By constantly transforming the organization and growing at a pace much faster than before, we will continue to focus on the needs of our customers, and anticipate how these needs have and will evolve, especially in this age of digital and data,” Rien Hermans, AXA Philippines president and chief executive, said.

“We look forward to an exciting 2016, especially as we enter the non-life insurance business with our planned acquisition of Charter Ping An,” Hermans added.