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  • Sun Life names new president of Sun Life Asia

    Sun Life names new president of Sun Life Asia

    Ingrid Johnson has been named the new president of Sun Life Asia, responsible for one of Sun Life’s strategic pillars encompassing life, health and wealth management businesses in eight Asian markets, including Vietnam.

    Johnson became the new President of Sun Life Asia on Oct. 26. She succeeds Léo Grépin, who left Sun Life on Oct. 15 to pursue other opportunities.

    “Johnson will continue to foster growth and build scale in our Asia businesses where we are focused on providing protection, health and wealth management solutions to clients in the fast-growing middle class and high net worth markets,” Kevin Strain, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sun Life, said.

    Johnson has more than 25 years of international commercial experience in the insurance and financial services industries. Most recently, she was the Group Finance Director of dual London- and South Africa-listed Old Mutual Plc and a member of its various subsidiary boards.

    Prior to this, Johnson spent 21 years with South African-listed Nedbank Group, a 53 percent subsidiary of Old Mutual Plc, where she held several progressively senior roles encompassing both the technical aspects of governance, finance, treasury, risk and capital management with large-scale international, corporate, business and retail clients.

    As an executive, she led 20,000 colleagues in delivering best-in-class client, culture and risk metrics, in addition to achieving sustainable financial performance and advancing leadership diversity.

    While at Nedbank Group, Johnson led business transformation of Business Banking Cluster (servicing commercial clients) with results of such note as to merit a 2009 Harvard Business School case study that is still taught in business and leadership courses today.

    Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Johnson is a chartered accountant, holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Accounting degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

    Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate clients.

    Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2021, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1.36 trillion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com.

    Sun Life Vietnam (Sun Life) is a life insurance company with 100 percent capital from Sun Life Financial, a leading international financial service organization with 156 years of experience from Canada. Sun Life is an established industry pioneer and market leader in pensions for both individual and corporate clients in Vietnam.

  • Sun Life Vietnam reveals strategy to increase insurance market share

    Sun Life Vietnam reveals strategy to increase insurance market share

    In December 2020, Sun Life Vietnam signed a partnership agreement with ACB to expand its budding bancassurance system.

    The new, 15-year partnership with ACB came into effect on the first day of 2021. ACB will distribute Sun Life Vietnam’s products at their 371 branches in 48 provinces, offering innovative and comprehensive financial solutions to millions of potential clients.

    The deal with ACB came after Sun Life’s first exclusive distribution deal with Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) just a year prior. The two partnerships prove what great stock Sun Life Vietnam puts into the emerging distribution channel and industry-leading collaborations.

    Larry Madge, CEO of Sun Life Vietnam, said: “We believe our cooperation with ACB and TPB will help us significantly expand Sun Life Vietnam’s client reach and enhance our position in the market.”

    Sun Life Vietnam products are now widely available to millions of TPBank and ACB customers, complementing the insurer’s extensive agency network.

    The two bank partners will also collaborate with Sun Life Vietnam on digitally enhancing their offering, client experience and training to ensure the best consultancy services.

    “The new partnership with ACB will be a powerful boost to our distribution capabilities and will enable us to scale up operations even faster. At the same time, we are accelerating the expansion of our agency network by opening new offices across the country and will also continue developing our existing partnership with TP Bank,” said Madge.

    Since the beginning of 2020, Sun Life Vietnam has been steadily increasing its charter capital while boosting investment in technology, branding, products, and services to meet changing client needs and adapt to new trends and a new working environment.

    For example, as Covid-19 was a complete game-changer for the entire industry, Sun Life Vietnam had to roll out several new solutions to adapt to the new landscape.

    The insurer developed Sun Fast, a solution where their advisors and clients could conduct virtual meetings and the entire consultation and purchasing process digitally. They can fill out and sign applications virtually, without face-to-face interaction, so they are not left without protection even during social distancing.

    In December, Sun Life Vietnam also introduced a new QR payment method to improve convenience.

    According to Vietnam Report, there will be more large-scale collaborations between banks and insurance businesses, with an increasing proportion of insurance revenue generated through bancassurance. Deals between FWD and Vietcombank or Sun Life Vietnam, ACB and TPBank all point in this direction.

    The insurance market is still looking at excellent growth potential due to the low number of insurance policyholders in the country, while the middle-class ranks proliferate.

    Remarkably, bancassurance has been growing even more substantial and now contributes nearly 30 percent of total life insurance sales. The annual average growth rate in 2016-2019 was 30 percent, and while the segment was hit hard by Covid-19, it still grew by 19 percent throughout 2020.

    Madge commented: “The Vietnamese economy has been growing steadily by 6-7 percent in recent years, and with the great job the Vietnamese government has done to manage Covid-19 while maintaining the economy, we have high hopes this rapid growth will continue.”

    “Currently, the Vietnamese insurance market is underpenetrated and only accounts for 1.4 percent of the GDP. Simultaneously, the global average is 3.4 percent.”

    Bancassurance deals offer benefits to all three sides – the insurance company, bank, and clients. It provides an efficient distribution channel to the insurance company, increasing its market reach, revenue, and potential client base.

    Meanwhile, it brings significant investment to the bank partner and improves relations with clients via a comprehensive set of products and services. The client can also enjoy improved protection from daily risks through insurance products while accessing flexible services from both the bank and insurer.

  • Sun Life Appoints Asia President

    Sun Life Appoints Asia President

    Sun Life Asia appoints a new president with incumbent Claude Accum to step down and retire on December 31 this year.

    Léo Grépin will become the president of Sun Life Asia in 2020 which currently encompasses life, health and wealth management businesses in seven regional markets: the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India.

    Grépin was most recently the firm’s ASEAN president since April 2019, overseeing Sun Life’s businesses in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, alongside regional distribution and marketing. Prior to that, he was a senior vice-president for Sun Life Canada, responsible for the insurance and wealth management product development and distribution to individuals.

    Previously, he had 20 years of experience including 15 with McKinsey, where he was a senior partner.

    Under Claude’s leadership, Sun Life Asia has gained market share and enhanced the client experience,» said Dean Connor, president and CEO of Sun Life, paying respects to Accum’s 36-year stint with the firm. «On behalf of the executive team and board of directors, I thank Claude for everything he’s accomplished over his career at Sun Life, and wish him all the best in his retirement.

  • Insurer Sun Life Indonesia values qualified agents

    Insurer Sun Life Indonesia values qualified agents

    Life insurer Sun Life Indonesia aims to have more qualified agents to market their products rather than just make the numbers, the company top executive has said.

    The firm gathered on Friday 1,000 of its most high-achieving agents for the annual “Year Start” event in Jakarta to brief them of the insurer’s vision this year and to ensure them to be ready to face a more competitive insurance industry.

    “We are launching several new initiatives in 2017, which are designed to improve our marketing agents’ productivity and to also encourage them to develop their skills and capacity,” Sun Life president director Elin Waty said.

    She added that the agency’s contribution reached around 55 percent of the firm’s insurance distribution last year and the company planned to have a similar share this year.

    The insurer uses a contract maintenance system, which obliges its agents to achieve certain targets or their contracts will be terminated to ensure the company has capable agents.

    “If this contract maintenance system wasn’t implemented, my agents would probably number 100,000,” Elin said.

    Currently, Sun Life has around 10,100 agents nationwide, a steady increase from its 9,000 agents in 2015.

    “We aim to do better in 2017 by focusing on our human resources, technology and brand,” said Sun Life Asia president Kevin Strain.

  • Sun Life, CIMB merge life-insurance businesses in Indonesia

    Sun Life, CIMB merge life-insurance businesses in Indonesia

    Life insurer Sun Life Financial Indonesia has officially integrated with Malaysia’s financial group CIMB subsidiary CIMB Sun Life following the Rp 550 billion (US$41.8 million) acquisition of 51 percent shares in CIMB Sun Life.

    Sun Life Financial Indonesia president director Elin Waty said the acquisition, conducted between April and June, was in line with the government’s single presence policy. In the corporate action, Sun Life is now the surviving entity.

    “We warmly welcome CIMB Sun Life’s employees and look forward to working together as a unified business with an even greater ability to serve our clients […] It is also in line with Sun Life Indonesia’s vision to assist people to increase their welfare,” she said in Jakarta on Thursday.

    Sun Life Financial Asia president Kevin Strain added that the acquisition also represented the company’s effort to strengthen its platform across the Asian market.

    “The life insurance sector in Indonesia has enormous potential and is a priority market for our long-term growth in Asia,” he said.

    Strain further said the merger would strengthen Sun Life Financial’s commitment to invest US$40 million to increase its online penetration and strengthen its brand presence in Indonesia.