Sun Life of Canada (Philippines), along with the Filipino-Chinese community, celebrated the recent Chinese New Year with a big event. The top insurance company in the country welcomed the Year of the Dog with the formal inauguration of its new location in Binondo, which is considered the main Chinatown of the Philippines.
The company’s Binondo office is now housed at the 7th floor of the newly constructed ETY Building, a 12-storey office building owned by the Yuchengco Group, a business partner of the insurer via its Sun Life Grepa. Sun Life Financial also occupies a portion of the building’s ground floor, where a new customer service center is located.
The new customer service center at the ground floor of ETY Building
Bigger and better location
“By moving to this new office, we are hoping to provide a better experience to our clients and advisors,” said Sun Life Financial Philippines President and Chief Agency Distribution Officer Alexander Narciso. This location transfer ended its 25-year lease contract with its former site. Narciso disclosed that the offer to relocate the branch to the new building was hard to let pass. “Terms are favorable and space is very good so we took it,” he said.
During a short chat with Tech and Lifestyle Journal, Narciso disclosed that the Binondo branch has a historical and sentimental value to the company. “During our early years, we set up our operations here, like most other companies then. Our first Binondo site was near Jones Bridge. From then on, the branch has relocated to several other sites,” he narrated.
Sun Life Financial’s Binondo branch also holds significance in terms of the company’s goal to maintain a good business relationship with the local Chinese community. “We are keeping our strength in this particular market segment. We can’t afford not to be present in Binondo, which is the heart of our country’s Chinatown,” Narciso explained.
The adorable SunSon
Bold and fearless
The giant insurance firm has a couple of programs that are aimed at further reaching out to the Filipino-Chinese community. First, Sun Life Philippines remains active in recruiting more advisors, especially those with Chinese descent. Second, the company is adding convenience to its services like its online facilities that make it easier particularly for millennials to buy and manage their insurance policies.
For the Year of the Dog, Narciso assured that the Binondo office, along with the entire Sun Life Financial in the Philippines will be ‘bold and fearless.’ “We are still aligned with our grand plan to have 5 million policyholders by 2020,” Narciso said. For 2018, the company commits to continue what it has already started to further go towards the achievement of its numerical goal—recruit more advisors and pilot other distribution channels outside the agency structure.