AIA Group Limited (AIA), the parent company of Philam Life, has announced having reached a total of 3,752 agents registered as Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) members on 6 May 2015, positioning AIA as the top ranking multinational company on the prestigious MDRT membership list.

MDRT is internationally recognised as the standard of excellence in the life insurance and financial services business. Its members are required to generate a certain level of premium, commission, and income, and demonstrate exceptional professional knowledge, strict ethical conduct and exceptional client service.

“This outstanding recognition is a testament to the relentless commitment of our agency force to the highest level of professional service to families and individuals across Asia,” said Patrick Teow, CEO of Group Agency Distribution of AIA Group. “We will continue to support the development of our agents by offering a steady stream of high quality training programmes, hiring and retaining top talent, and providing the most advanced tools for enhanced efficiency and productivity. This sustained effort will not only be beneficial to our agents and our customers, but it will also contribute to further strengthen our position in the market.”

Philam Life, one of the leading insurance companies in the country, also mirrors AIA’s MDRT achievement with a double-digit growth in MDRT members in 2014.

Underlying AIA’s efforts to support and grow its agency force, the company launched its Premier Agency strategy in 2010, which led to significant investments into the agency training and development. In 2013, AIA extended this initiative and entered into a strategic partnership with GAMA International, an association dedicated to supporting the professional development of field leaders in the insurance and financial services industry. The programme provided AIA’s agency teams with skills-based professional development and opportunities for peer-to-peer networking. By 2014, more than one-third of AIA’s agency leaders across the Asia region had completed the GAMA training.

To continuously build on its Premier Agency strategy, Philam Life has rolled out a new activity management system to improve agent activity levels and increase average case sizes in the first half of 2015. This initiative has enabled Philam Life to grow annualised new premium (ANP) per active agent by 23 per cent compared with the first half of 2014.

“We take pride in the increasing number of our MDRTs particularly those who have achieved Top of Table and Court of Table status. We will continue to grow our roster of accomplished advisors through our Premier Agency strategy. Our growing number of accomplished advisors reflects our strong commitment to achieve the highest level of excellence and professionalism in serving our clients,” said Philam Life CEO J. Axel Bromley.

In addition, AIA has been investing in new technologies that transform the agents’ day-to-day operations and dramatically enhance customer experience. As an example, the Group’s interactive point-of-sale (iPoS) enables agents to engage with customers anywhere and at any time with the aid of a tablet, allowing an interactive and dynamic experience that significantly improves customer acquisition and retention. As a major innovation for the insurance industry, iPoS is currently available in 11 AIA markets, including the Philippines.

AIA has also started to roll out a next-generation system that integrates a new interactive mobile office (iMO) platform with iPoS technology. The system with expanded functionalities will further enhance the quality of the interactions between AIA’s agents and customers to ultimately drive business growth.

AIA’s commitment to having the highest quality agency force in the region is reflected in the Group’s results, with AIA’s agency business recording a 21 per cent growth in Value of New Business (VONB) in the six months ended 31 May 2015.

About Philam Life

The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (Philam Life) is the country’s premier life insurance company. Established on June 21, 1947, Philam Life has earned the trust of customers for its financial strength, strong brand name, and ability to deliver on its promises.

Philam Life has P226.8 billion in total assets as of December 31, 2014 and has delivered timely pay outs of over P9 billion in education benefits (2004-2014) and over P118 billion in insurance benefits (1950-2014), while serving close to 600,000 individual policyholders and over 1,700,000 insured group members.

Philam Life understands the real-life needs of its customers and provides the right plans and the right solutions including life protection, health insurance, savings, education, retirement, investment, group and credit life insurance. It also offers bancassurance and fund management products and services through its subsidiaries—BPI Philam Life Assurance Company (BPI-Philam) and Philam Asset Management Inc. (PAMI).

Philam Life is a member of AIA Group Limited, the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group.

About AIA

AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively “AIA” or the “Group”) comprise the largest independent publicly listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has a presence in 18 markets in Asia-Pacific – wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau, Brunei, a 97 per cent subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 26 per cent joint venture in India and representative offices in Myanmar and Cambodia.

The business that is now AIA was first established in Shanghai over 90 years ago. It is a market leader in the Asia-Pacific region (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$172 billion as of 31 May 2015.

AIA meets the long-term savings and protection needs of individuals by offering a range of products and services including life insurance, accident and health insurance and savings plans. The Group also provides employee benefits, credit life and pension services to corporate clients. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees
across Asia-Pacific, AIA serves the holders of more than 29 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

AIA Group Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited under the stock code “1299” with American Depositary Receipts (Level 1) traded on the over-the-counter market (ticker symbol: “AAGIY”).

About MDRT

Founded in 1927, the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT), the Premier Association of Financial Professionals®, is a global, independent association of more than 42,000 of the world’s leading life insurance and financial services professionals from more than 470 companies in 71 countries. MDRT members demonstrate exceptional professional knowledge, strict ethical conduct and outstanding client service. MDRT membership is recognized internationally as the standard of excellence in the life insurance and financial services business.

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