Investing with AXA (Inputs please)

[bojams]

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Just as an additional info: I have five accounts with AXA, four of it are long term investments and the other one is the HoneyPot which is withdrawable anytime in the first year. As far as I've experienced, the Financial Executive (who is working inside Metrobank) not an Agent who handled my accounts are very efficient and effective. She can explain well and very transparent about the charges and the so called dual pricing method that Aninipot mentioned in this thread. As far as I understood is better than single pricing method because with AXA who have a dual pricing method they, only have a 2% charge for the insurance cost and the asset management cost, whereas other investment company who have a single pricing method have a 6% initial charge plus a 1.7% back end or front end charge...so dako na hinuon ang makaltas sa imong principal amount so kung dako ang makaltas na charge gamay na lang ang mahabilin na money to buy the units of investments...so kung gamay lang ang imong units gamay ra sad ang mo earn ug interests...whereas kung gamay lang ang kaltas mas dako ang money na mabuy ug units of investments....
Actually, if your Financial Executive knows the product well on the product he is selling, like what i have experienced, ok ra man jud ang AXA...maybe they are still adjusting specially here in Cebu kay wala man diri ang ilang head office...
And COMCAM is right, products of AXA is package with insurance protection...and i guess protection is very important coz we cant escape death as ComCam emphasized.
As perjavier, i guess bro, ang imong nakuha is purely ang insurance na product nila kay naa man silay mga nindot ron na products na investments with insurance protection and at the same time tax free....
And lastly, magdepende ra sad jud na sa imong risk apetite....kung hadlokan ka, ayaw ug butang sa equity 100%...naa man silay bonds and balanced i guess...and then as what i have learned from my FE, puede man ug mixed ang imong fund allocation....
Good Luck....

[bojams]

additonal info....

AXA makes it to Top 100 Brands (Business Mirror,C2, 29 August 2007)

Life Insurer AXA debuted in the annual ranking of the 100 Best Global Brands by Interbrand for 2007, the Business Week reported in its August 2007 issue.

Interbrand is the world’s leading brand consulting agency based in New York. It evaluates the best global brands on the basis of profit projections, which are then discounted to a present value, taking into account the likelihood that those earnings will actually materialize.

Headquartered in France, AXA was one of the five new global brands that made it to the Top 100 Brands for 2007 and its entry in to the list has been attributed to its aggressive strategies to raise its profile globally. Considered the second biggest insurance brand in the world, AXA was ranked no. 49 in the list overall.

In the Philippines, AXA is a relatively new and fresh brand but it steadily made its way to be the No. 2 life insurance company through aggressive sales and marketing, earning it the reputation of being the fastest-growing life insurance company. Its tie-up with Metrobank, the country’s largest commercial bank, has also helped boost its Bancassurance business.

AXA’s total premium income in 2006 closed at P9 billion, marking a 98 percent growth from the previous year’s performance. In the first half of this year, it has already surpassed last year’s makr with over P10 billion in premium income.

Interbrand takes into consideration several factors in ranking the world’s most valuable brands. To even qualify for the lsit, each brand must derive about a third of its earnings outside its home country, be recognizable outside of tis base of customers, and have publicly available marketing and financial data. The Top 100 Brands list includes such corporate giants as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, McDonald’s, Toyota, Google and Apple.

[bojams]

AXA Philippines hits new milestone with P1-B NBI mark as of first half (Business World, S2-8, 11 July 2007)

Life insurer AXA Philippines has again reached the P1-billion mark in New Business Index (NBI), only halfway through 2007. The NBI is a measure sales performance used in the insurance industry. The company first hit the mark in late 2006.Total NBI for that year was P1.22 billion, or a growth of 69% over 2005. "This is indeed a remarkable feat for AXA. Reaching the P1-billion mark this early in the year shows that AXA is quickly gaining credibility among consumers as a leader in insurance and investments in the country," said Andrew D. Alcid, president and chief executive officer of AXA Philippines.

The policyholder who broke the P1-B barrier for the year was Mon Cafranca, national retail sales manager for a consumer goods distribution company. Mr. Cafranca bought a Honey Pot policy.

"The Honey Pot Peso policy is a very good product because it does not only provide for my protection, but it also has additional living benefits and is a very good investment tool for me because of its exceptional returns," he said.

Honey Pot, an investment-linked insurance policy, is a variable life insurance product that integrates insurance protection and investment into one plan.

The investment components of all of AXA's variable life plans are pooled together and managed by expert investment professionals who place these funds in a variety of financial instruments and sectors. This product is available in both peso and dollar denomination.

AXA's Honey products have found similar success throughout the region. The blueprint for this was developed from the best practices of AXA's global network of more than 47 countries worldwide.

This is one reason why AXA is the largest life insurer in the world, Mr. Alcid said.

AXA Philippines has exceeded the P5-billion mark for total premium income at the end of the first quarter, or a 224% growth over the same period last year.

"AXA has been exhibiting phenomenal growth and we are gratetul for the trust the public has given us. We assure our policy holders that they can continue to expect only the best service from us,' Mr. Alcid said.

AXA Philippines is a joint venture between AXA, the world's largest insurer, and the Metrobank Group, the country's largest financial conglomerate.
(Philippine Star, B-6,By Ted P. Torres, 10

[Soggy2]

Wow. Articles really paint pretty and colorful pictures.

The investment components of all of AXA's variable life plans are pooled together and managed by expert investment professionals who place these funds in a variety of financial instruments and sectors. This product is available in both peso and dollar denomination.

managed by expert investment professionals!

We opened a honeypot account on January 2007, balanced and bond. After almost one year, im at a grand total of -4%.

Opted for a fund switch from bond to equity. Took a total of 6 weeks to process with a lot of headaches along the way.

Even if i didnt make the fund switch id still end up with a whopping -2.8%. I made a very bad move.

My other account (same capital) from another company opened last March 27, 2007 is up by 8%. I find this a very interesting comparison to AXA's expert investment professionals considering everything was bullish until around August 2007 when AXA's expert investment professionals already had a head start.

I sent a letter of complaint. Reply was around 6 weeks later. There was no resolution made but i didnt care anymore.

My agent and the people he phones to consult are just warm bodies behind their well decorated desks. Questions about pricing are answered one (sometimes two or three) phone call(s) at a time.

bear in mind too that there's a high turnover of agents handling AXA in Metrobank branches.

Haha. What a coincidence, this agent im talking about is the second agent. the first one resigned. I wonder if he'll still be there when i visit to cancel my account but thats when i break even. If i break even.

As far as I understood is better than single pricing method because with AXA who have a dual pricing method they, only have a 2% charge for the insurance cost and the asset management cost, whereas other investment company who have a single pricing method have a 6% initial charge plus a 1.7% back end or front end charge...so dako na hinuon ang makaltas sa imong principal amount so kung dako ang makaltas na charge gamay na lang ang mahabilin na money to buy the units of investments...so kung gamay lang ang imong units gamay ra sad ang mo earn ug interests...whereas kung gamay lang ang kaltas mas dako ang money na mabuy ug units of investments....

This is probably the only good thing i can say about AXA in its entirety (aside from the well decorated desks). You end up with more units since the charge is only 2%. But then again, thats where the list ends.

Ho Ho Ho. A lesson learned. An expensive one, but well assimilated.

[wisemary888]

Philamlife, AXA figure in tug-of-war
The Philippine Star
By Ted P. Torres
Tuesday, January 8, 2008


In the absence of a sound and industry-accepted standard for measuring the performance of individual life insurer, total premium income including single premiums as well as variable or unit linked (VUL) premiums remain the weighing scale. And that means two insurers are fighting tooth and nail for the top spot, based on initial end year results.

The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philamlife) and AXA Philippines (AXA) are reportedly both in the vicinity of P16 billion in terms of total premium income.

Philamlife, the recognized industry leader this century, reported total premium income of P14.5 billion in 2006. AXA , which was catapulted to second best performer in 2006 registered premium income of P9 billion.

Industry sources, however, said that in overall terms, which includes capital, resources, investment income and policies in force, Philamlife will remain the leader.

It seems from initial reports that Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. will remain in third spot based on its nine month performance of P13 billion. Industry sources indicate that it could end the year with premium income of between P14.5 billion to P15 billion. The last quarter of the year is traditionally the strongest period of the industry.

It ended 2006 with premiums worth P8.7 billion.

All-Filipino Insular Life Assurance Co. (Insular Life) will likely remain in fourth overall with a total premium income in the vicinity of P7.8 billion. It was P6.3 billion in 2006.

Canadian insurer Manufacturers Life Assurance Co. Inc. (Manulife) and Pru Life Insurance Corp. of UK (PruLife) is also reportedly elbowing each other for the all-important fifth place among the country’s 26 life insurers.

Manulife is pressed to defend its fifth place in 2006 where it recorded total premium income of P3-billion. Reports indicate that premiums last year “may be better than P4 billion.”

But PruLife reportedly finished 2007 “closer to P5 billion” in total premium income. It was worth P2.7 billion in 2006.

Ayala Life Assurance Corp. (Ayala Life) will likely keep the seventh spot finishing 2007 with premiums worth over P2 billion, from P1.8 billion in 2006.

Generali Pilipinas Life Assurance Co. Inc. (Generali Pilipinas) is reportedly in the P2-billion level in premiums last year while Great Pacific Life Assurance Corp. (Grepalife) is said to have surpassed the P1.3 billion barrier.

Generali Pilipinas finished 2006 with P1.8 billion worth of premiums while Grepalife registered the same at P1 billion in the same period.

Industry players agree that 2007 was a good year for the economy as well as the industry. A growth rate of 17 to 20-percent for the life insurance is much anticipated. But 2008 is forecast to be a challenging year.

Total premium income in 2006 reached P55.38 billion, or roughly 18 percent from the P46.9 billion recorded in 2005.

The economy is expected to slow down from the fiery 6.7- to seven percent gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2007, to the 6.2- to 6.7 percent this year.

Likewise, more players are selling single premium policies and VULs. Insurers that have been in that market earlier may find it harder to seek new takers.

Recurring business from traditional life products remain the long-term solution to the profitable but short-term single premiums and VULs.

[wisemary888]

hi guys,
i guess this certain article can help us decide kung unsa jud ang performance sa mga investment companies here in the Philippines particularly here in Cebu.

[Soggy2]

AXA , which was catapulted to second best performer in 2006 registered premium income of P9 billion.

Walay 2007 figures? kay humot ra kaau ni.

Pero sa bagay basi kana na figures income na. dili ang fund performance. So wafa gihapon cguro kaau ang 2007 figures

-13 something percent nako after one year!

[wisemary888]

"The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philamlife) and AXA Philippines (AXA) are reportedly both in the vicinity of P16 billion in terms of total premium income."
---this is the 2007 performance i guess, based on the article above that i have read and that's why the title of the article is "Philamlife, AXA figure in tug-of-war" because these two companies are fighting for number one ranking.heheheh...just an interpretation....

[dukegulliver]

comparing the 2 companies, PhilamLife & Phil AXA, i'd go with PhilamLife. AXA outside the philippines is good, but here it already has a bad reputation when it comes to claims because metrobank handles it's releases. i had the hands on experience of doing follow ups and filing reports, and i can really tell that Phil AXA sucks in terms of claims. metrobank had to cover litigations coming from Pan Phil Life, that is why they resorted in a partnership with AXA.

i was a financial consultant and i have the knowledge. comparing all insurance life companies, i can say that manulife leads the claims department. still based on experience with an agent of manulife, she had this client who died. all the agent did was to certify that the person who died was her client. then the release of proceeds was made. manulife already existed more than 100 years and still going strong. by comparison of professionalism, 1 manulife agent is equal to 25 phil axa agents.

Sunlife, PhilamLife, and Prulife are not so far behind Manulife in terms of releasing funds of claims.

AXA would have been a good company if it ties up with other financial institutions other than metrobank.

as some financial consultants once ruled out, if big depositors would pull out from metrobank, it will eventually be a bank run.

the reason why phil axa is on the ranking is because that for every loan made by a client of metrobank, it is compulsory to have an insurance coverage exclusive at phil axa or no loan at all. they have gone away with the group insurance coverage and opted for the individual coverage, which is unlikely costly for the client. that is how twisted they decide. and since insurance policies are suppose to be negotiable instruments, metrobank doesn't honor those policies coming from other insurance companies. so, phil axa is always rescued but the client won't be... i have a friend who is a doctor and her insurance policy from insular life was not accepted as a coverage for her loan with metrobank even with the endorsement. so, she had to get an insurance coverage from phil axa, and the premium is very high compared to her premium at insular life.

i had made a dozen of clients seeking professional help, but what the heck, phil axa manipulates their records so that no claim shall be given.

[Samsia]

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