Manila/Singapore – Insular Life (InLife) and Oona Insurance group (Oona) today jointly announced that they are entering into an agreement, with InLife selling its 40% stake in their non-life insurance joint venture, Oona Insular Insurance Corporation (Oona Philippines), making it Oona’s fully owned subsidiary.
Oona Philippines and Insular Life will continue their cooperation arrangements to cross-sell insurance products in the Philippines. The agreement is expected to further boost Oona Philippines’ status in the general insurance industry, building upon the series of innovations and services that it has brought to the Philippine market since it set up shop in the country last year.
InLife, on the other hand, will focus on its core life insurance and healthcare business to sustain the momentum it has achieved in the last couple of years. Latest data show the life insurer jumped to number five at the end of this year’s first half in terms of its New Business Annualized Premium Equivalent.
InLife plans to support its scale and innovation efforts in its operations and distribution channels in its bid to move further up the rankings. “As InLife moves forward to achieve accelerated growth and continue in its journey to provide customer service excellence through digital transformation and innovation, we will continue to support Oona’s plan to strengthen its presence in the Philippines,” said Executive Chairperson Nina D. Aguas.
“We are deeply grateful to InLife for being a remarkable partner during our lift-off stage over the past year, and we look forward to maintaining our cross-selling partnership with InLife going forward. We are very optimistic and believe this move will help us push for higher growth as we position ourselves to be a major player in the Philippines’ non-life insurance market,” said Abhishek Bhatia, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Oona Insurance group.
About Oona Insurance Oona Insurance is focused on building the most transformative and customer-centric insurer across Southeast Asia. Set up in 2021, it has established a presence in Indonesia and the Philippines and is fully backed by a $350 million equity commitment from Warburg Pincus.
In early September, Oona launched its “Smart Flight Delay” insurance product in the Philippines, an innovation that effectively addresses a specific concern among Filipino air travelers – unexplained airline cancellations and flight time delays. Subsequently, Oona made another “first” by launching its “Kahoona” intermediary distribution platform in late October. Coined as the “ultimate insurance business tool”, Kahoona is equipped with an “intuitive performance dashboard” and is replete with a host of digitally enabled features to make the entire sales and buying journey a breeze. For more information, visit www.myoona.ph
About Insular Life Insular Life (InLife) is the first and largest Filipino life insurance company in the country with over 113 years of uninterrupted service. We apply over a hundred years of experience in financial protection, risk management, savings, and investment to help you make confident decisions for you and your loved ones.
Our policyholders can be assured of being protected by a company that has an asset base of over P147 billion and net worth of P50.2 billion. We have a nationwide presence through our 56 branches all over the country, and an expanded digital footprint to serve our customers, wherever and whenever they want.
Our success is anchored on the well-being and security of our policyholders and beneficiaries, employees and financial advisors, partner companies and institutions, and host communities as we exist to offer A Lifetime for Good for everyone.