AIA Group has announced plans to invest PHP3bn ($57.68m) in its Philippine subsidiary over the next three years, reported The Philippine Star. The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company (Philam Life) will use the investment amount to develop its distribution and expand its business reach.

Speaking at a press conference, Philam Life CEO Kelvin Ang said that the fresh investments would be used to nurture and develop highly professional full-time leaders. He also said that Philam Life is building a distribution base which would complement and co-exist with the current one.

“In the past we have done some investment in terms of building the agency model that we want, which is about full-time professional advisers. But this time we are making it bigger because we feel that the market opportunity is enormous,” Mr Ang said.

He added Philam Life is also launching a revolutionary programme that would provide the Philippine unit with capital support as well as accelerated career development for employees. At the same time, the programme would help develop solutions to address the protection gap in the Philippines.

Mr Ang said that the protection gap in the Philippines is expected to reach PHP2.7tn next year from the current PHP1.5tn while the insurance penetration rate remains low at less than 2%.

Established in 1947, life insurer Philam Life has PHP251.4 billion in total assets and serves almost 600,000 individual policyholders as well as over 2.2m insured group members.