Fast-rising insurer EastWest Ageas Insurance creates products tailor-fit for the needs of Filipinos, says company president and chief executive Sjoerd Smeets.
EastWest Ageas, he said, aims to provide simple and flexible life insurance options by localizing the policies to adapt to market demands.
“When people are young you don’t think so much still about your health. But as age progresses, people are more impacted by this. So it’s really an investment for the future. From a business perspective, we do this because we want to sell more policies, but we also want to protect more Filipinos against anything difficult that can happen in their life,” he said.
EastWest Ageas is offering products created for the Filipino market on life or non-life coverage, each distinctly appropriate and with much emphasis on health, noting the high demand from Filipinos looking for health related products to protect them against critical illnesses.
The insurance company started operating in the Philippines in 2015 under the brand Troo and has recently embarked on a rebranding journey in 2022 to become what is now known as EastWest Ageas. The refreshing change sought to carry on the heritage of both parent companies – the Philippines most trusted finance solutions provider EastWest Bank and Belgium’s largest operating insurance company, Ageas.
“EastWest Bank is among the country’s banking experts and Ageas is an award-winning international insurance firm. Two strong names in their respective fields – banking and insurance – that merged together to help Filipinos plan a better tomorrow.
Our partnership with EastWest Bank, one of the country’s leading companies with over 400+ branches, and Ageas, an award-winning international insurance group with a heritage spanning 200 years, ensures that we offer our customers solutions designed with their needs in mind. Our solutions are easy to understand, simple to manage, and work with your budget,” said Smeets who has worked for Ageas in different markets in Europe since 2012.
Smeets started his career as an actuary in the Netherlands. He held various senior managerial positions in actuarial, risk, and underwriting in five countries, while focused on stimulating the connection with commercial and client-focused areas. His most recent position before coming to the Philippines was as chief risk officer and member of the Ageas Portugal executive committee.
Customers are the core of every business, and Smeets primary goal is to reinforce customer-centricity throughout the organization.
“If we keep improving our approach in this area, we will be able to better understand our customers’ needs. As a result, we will be able to provide financial solutions that address those needs,” he said.
He expressed hope that through EastWest Ageas, he could help more Filipinos with their financial planning for a better tomorrow.
Near-term goals
Setting goals allows leaders to stay focused on what matters most. Smeets believes it is critical to develop a vision for what needs to be done.
“Leadership is about providing a strategic direction to people and empowering them to perform. I enjoy encouraging others and assisting them in reaching their goals. And under my leadership, we will step up our efforts to help more Filipinos plan a better tomorrow so that they can live their best lives today,” he said.
EastWest Ageas is bullish about its operations in the Philippines. It aims to be among the country’s top 10 performing insurance companies in 2023. Latest data from the Insurance Commission showed EastWest landing at 12th spot among the best performing insurance companies in 2022, two notches up from 14th place in 2021 and 34th when it started operating in the Philippines seven years ago. Moving up to the top 5 position is the company’s ultimate goal within the next five years.
The company has an active portfolio of more than 250,000 policies with 130 insurance agents as of April 2023. It plans to close the year with as much as 1,000 agents to increase its presence not only in Metro Manila but in select cities and provinces across the Philippines.
In September 2022, EastWest Ageas opened its first agency house within the central business district of Makati City and a second in Ortigas, Mandaluyong City. The insurance firm is building a distribution channel to sustain gains with the launch of the Agency Community.
The company has also expanded its line of investment solutions with the addition of the Dollar Edge variable unit-linked plan and its first critical illness product, Life Essentials, that covers up to 40 types of critical illnesses in the Philippines.
“We started in the Manila area because if you want to start agency business, you want to start that closer to home, easier to manage, but also with a wider range because Metro Manila is a very big area with a lot of potential customers. But we’re also expanding outside of Manila so we have quite ambitious targets for the agency channel. We want to be expanding that over the next couple of years to have a relevant channel for us to support the Philippine market,” Smeets said.
Keeping abreast with competition
By the end of July 2023, EastWest Ageas is going live on a new core system that has a lot of benefits to clients as it will be completely digital.
“So customers need not sign any papers. Everything can be done in a digital way and we will also improve the sale process limiting the hours spent from having an introduction to having the final presentation which normally would take 2 hours. This new sales process that we have developed is really there to support the interaction between the adviser and the customer. Our sales agents can actually sell a policy and have the discussion with the customer in 20 minutes,” Smeets said.
He said the entire process is a safe procedure that is backed by a host of security standards from its IT security team.
“We did tests where we allowed specialized companies and see if they can penetrate our systems, but they never did. I would say that digital sales and being in the clouds clearly is a very safe way to do this,” he said.
From when EastWest Ageas started operating in the Philippines, its systems are already in the cloud – accessible from any location, anywhere in the country. A reliable internet provider is the key to having an efficient and seamless connection to customers where transactions can be done remotely.
Insurance outlook
Smeets said there’s a strong growth potential for the Philippines, given how invested Filipinos are in their health and future. He noted how quickly the local insurance industry bounced back from the effects of pandemic to revive general businesses.
“It’s one of the reasons that we are here. We don’t enter very mature markets where the insurance sector is already very saturated. So we look for growth opportunity. And if you look to the Philippines with 110 million inhabitants, the market penetration of life insurance returns are between 2 to 3 percent. There’s a lot of opportunity for growth and that will be fueled by gradually increasing spending power of the Philippine population, gradually increasing more knowledge about financial literacy, savings and protecting for the future,” he said.
Smeets sees a huge demand for medical coverage, particularly for critical illness. With what science has advanced in the last few years in terms of breakthroughs in the medical field, the rate at which critical illnesses is growing is almost at par and sometime surpasses medical advancements.
In 2022, the life insurance sector had a flat growth but stayed stable. EastWest Ageas has grown both markets, life and non-life, by 22 percent, outgrowing the entire local insurance market.
“So, I would say this year is more promising. I think people are overcoming the difficulties that we have in the equity markets. I think there is opportunity to grow more and I’m optimistic about the market potential that we have. It has a noble cause. And it’s there really to protect people,” Smeets said.
Planting for the future
Insuring the future is ensuring the sustainability of the environment, and for this EastWest Ageas did its bit in bringing back nature through a tree planting activity that started in 2022.
“We clearly want to be a company that’s focused on activities that support society and gives purpose to life. We can help in tree planting or it can be a beach clean-up or supporting schools by painting the walls. We are going to be more focused on that because it’s not only a a great way to stimulate a culture where people feel they belong, it can also develop skills that support society, in general. In Europe there’s a lot of discussion on environment social governance and what we can do to the environment and you see it happening now in Asia. We figured that it isn’t just getting the profit for your company and growing your top line, it is also being green and sustainable for the long run,” Smeets said.
EastWest Ageas also supports cancer wards by donating some machineries and equipment. This year, the company is taking a different approach which it plans to carry out in a more structured way. It is currently in the process of selecting the projects it will be supporting for 2023 and thereafter.
Family man
Smeets is of Dutch origins, and so is his family whom he uprooted from Europe to stay with him in Asia. The transition is not as life-changing since his family is now familiar with the nature of his job having joined him in previous assignments in several markets.
The Philippines is his first tour in Asia after living and working in Russia, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands.
“I’m convinced that you can only hope to work optimal if you have your support system. Having my family join me in the Philippines gives me a lot of comfort and ease and sometimes allows me to release the pressure that you always feel in any position that you’re in,” he said.
The Philippines being an English speaking country helped his family cope with the relocation. He found Filipinos as one of the friendliest people with great culture and even greater food. Not a fan of spicy foods, Smeets has developed a liking to pork and chicken adobo, one of the popular Filipino dishes.
Fun time with family is seeing the beautiful spots in the Philippines. The Smeets have been to Baguio, Boracay, Tagaytay and Mindoro, and found the island people warm and generous, as well.
“Traveling allows you really to understand the culture of a place and see how people are different, and experience how food is different in as much as social interaction is also unique. It’s very nice to see the difference between the east and the west. I like to explore those kinds of things. So I like traveling and see more about the culture here,” he said.
He is also happy that he can encourage his children to continue their personal pursuits in the Philippines. His daughter trains to be an equestrian and his son is into football.