Allianz PNB Life continues to be an advocate of financial education and literacy in the Philippines through its financial literacy program, Allianz Kaagapay. Just this month, the insurance company was able to host another session in Batangas.
Coming in fresh after the session, Allianz PNB Life’s Head of Investments, Henry Yang, shared what it is like to take part in the Allianz Kaagapay program, as he is also one of the main facilitators and lecturers.
“As Head of Investments, my job is to make sure that money is going to be available [for the company to pay out to clients] in the future,” he said. “Primarily, I have to maintain that the company is able to fulfill our promise to our customers and make sure that it grows. We have to be sustainable, and part of being sustainable is being profitable.”
Part of Yang’s position as Head of Investments is working with the training team to develop investment-related training materials for the company’s product distributors, as well as with the market management team to help produce those materials. It was through these collaborations that Yang came to join the Allianz Kaagapay initiative.
“This isn’t part of the profitability side, but more of the ‘giving back side,” Yang shared. “So what we volunteered to do is to share our financial knowledge as part of the Kaagapay program. Before, it was mostly just about insurance, but by having a short financial wellness discussion as well, it adds a bit more value and even more appreciation for the free insurance that we’ve been giving out as part of this program.”
Allianz Kaagapay is Allianz PNB Life’s response to the poor financial literacy problem in the Philippines. Through this program, Allianz PNB Life encourages financial wellness and inclusion among Filipinos. Facilitators like Yang discuss impactful topics such as money management, the habit of saving, income generation, and more in a simple manner. Participants are also slated to receive free life insurance for one year up to Php 25,000 after the session.
“The intent there really is for them to be much more aware of why insurance is needed, why we need to plan our finances and start saving and continuing [this habit],” Yang stressed. “Filipinos love freebies, but the main intention [of giving out free life insurance to participants] is to spread out this awareness, this understanding on how important financial literacy is by having this actual insurance policy issued to them for one year. They can appreciate it even more once they pick up the learnings being taught through Kaagapay.”
Kaagapay is not the only program Allianz PNB Life is pushing when it comes to financial literacy. As a supplement to the Kaagapay sessions, Allianz PNB Life also has a series of videos and blog articles called the Allianz Guru series. Yang also spearheads this project, appearing in the videos and penning the articles himself.
According to Yang, the Allianz Guru series is meant to discuss the topics taught under Kaagapay in greater detail. “Kaagapay is more of an intro, teaching you the basics, giving you a bird’s-eye view of what you can do to manage your finances,” he said. “The Allianz Guru series is like a continuing education. By reading some of the articles and watching the videos in the Allianz Guru series, you get to zoom in a bit more.”
When asked about the future of the Kaagapay program, Yang shared the company’s vision of expanding the sessions to target other demographics. The current program is intended for the underserved communities in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, so the company is aiming to develop sessions for OFWs, as well as graduating students.
In the end, Allianz Kaagapay helps push Allianz PNB Life’s goal of sustainability and financial wellness and inclusion further – by making the topics of financial management, investments, and insurance simple and easy to understand.
“What we’re striving for is that hopefully, [the participants] come out of the session with a few realizations, a few lessons in their mind that they can apply to improve their lives and improve their family’s financial wellness,” said Yang.