There was a time when buying insurance meant setting aside time for paperwork, visiting a branch, meeting with a financial advisor, and waiting for an application to be processed.
For something designed to provide peace of mind, the experience could sometimes feel intimidating.
But the way Filipinos live has changed. People now bank, shop, book appointments, communicate, and manage many aspects of their lives through their phones. They expect services to be simpler, faster, and easier to access.
Insurance is no exception.
For InLife, (formerly known as Insular Life,) this changing behavior has prompted a bigger question: How can we make protection work better for the way Filipinos live today?
The answer has been more than simply going digital. It has meant rethinking the insurance experience, developing new ways to provide protection, and listening constantly to what else Filipinos need.
“We believe there is something powerful about being Filipino and protecting fellow Filipinos. We place the same value on family and preparation for the future, and understand the different challenges Filipinos face because we experience them ourselves. That shared understanding inspires us to keep finding better, simpler, and more meaningful ways to protect Filipinos throughout their lives,” said InLife Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Bancassurance Officer Gae L. Martinez.
Innovation starts with making life easier
Over the years, InLife has invested in digital tools that address the abovementioned customer pain points.
Its pioneering Automated Underwriting System has made life insurance application faster. Through the InLife App, policyholders now have easier access to their policies and services. Financial Advisors have the InLife Super Compass app, an all-in-one digital sales and productivity tool for easier sales activity management. Ella, InLife's AI-powered digital assistant, helps customers find policy-specific information when they need it, wherever they may be.
These are technology projects that respond to a simple reality: people have less time for complicated processes and expect greater convenience from the companies they deal with.
For InLife, innovation means removing unnecessary friction from the experience of getting and managing protection. It means blazing trails beyond technology and rethinking what insurance solutions could make Filipinos’ lives easier.
For instance, to help Filipinos gauge their retirement readiness, InLife developed the country’s first-ever Retirement Readiness Index. The Index measures retirement preparedness through six factors: life stage, personal finances, health, pension program participation, retirement sentiment and social support.
And to ensure Filipinos could retire without worries, InLife launched Retire Assure, the country’s first true retirement product, made around a need that is becoming increasingly important as Filipinos live longer: having a reliable source of income during retirement.
Retire Assure was designed to provide guaranteed income to Filipinos after their working years, from age 60 up to 100. It has flexible payout options and does not require medical exam, allowing Filipinos to build a more secure and worry-free retirement.
These developments reflect a broader shift in how InLife approaches insurance: looking at the financial realities Filipinos face and creating solutions around those needs.
The same thinking can be seen in Stackbit, an affordable, flexible insurance product designed for young Filipinos and emerging customers, offering protection that can be built up bit by bit. Starting at just ₱10, customers may choose from three stackable coverage, allowing them to get protection that fits their needs and budget. With its low entry price and simple, accessible format, Stackbit makes insurance easier to understand, start, and build into everyday financial habits without forcing Filipinos to make large financial commitments before they are ready to do so.
Recently, it also launched the InLife Global Care for Filipinos who want more flexible healthcare protection and a way to supplement their Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) coverages.
InLife Global Care provides coverage for major illnesses and medical needs, with access to healthcare services and treatment options locally and abroad, helping ease the financial burden of costly medical care. Designed for Filipinos who want greater peace of mind for themselves and their loved ones, InLife Global Care combines access to world-class care, delivered with a genuine Filipino heart, and backed by InLife certainty.
Innovation also means looking beyond insurance
InLife's innovation extends to how it responds to broader needs affecting Filipinos.
Through the InLife HealthCheck, InLife brings health and wellness support closer to members of the Amorsolo Circle. Amorsolo Circle is InLife’s program for its high-net worth policyholders.
The InLife HealthCheck is a preventive wellness tool designed to encourage proactive health monitoring. It allows users to obtain a snapshot of over 30 wellness indicators through a simple 60-second video selfie on a mobile device. By detecting blood flow beneath the skin, this feature empowers individuals to track key health metrics early, making routine wellness tracking accessible long before symptoms appear. However, it is not a medical device nor a replacement for clinical diagnostic tests.
The biggest innovation may be the one customers don't see
Some of InLife's transformation happens behind the scenes.
The company has adopted Agile ways of working and established Mission-Based Teams (MBT), bringing people from different functions together around specific customer and business needs.
This matters because a customer's experience does not belong to just one department. Life insurance involves sales, underwriting, customer relations, and technology, among others. A customer question can reveal an opportunity to improve an entire process. A recurring frustration can point to something that needs to be redesigned or created. Two of InLife’s products, Retire Assure, and Stackbit, are products of these MBTs.
That is why listening has become an important part of InLife's approach to innovation.
Customer feedback and satisfaction measures provide insights into what works, what doesn't, and where the experience can be improved. The result is a cycle: listen, understand, improve, and build again.
InLife, a company that keeps moving forward
After almost 116 years of protecting Filipinos, InLife continues to reinvent itself and transform. The name is shorter and more modern, but it also reflects a more agile, modern and customer-focused organization while still honoring the trust and heritage built over more than a century. More importantly, InLife’s approach to innovation has always come back to one question:
What do Filipinos need next?
Because innovation is about seeing a need, listening to people, and finding a better way forward. And after 116 years, InLife has mastered the art of helping Filipinos prepare for the future.
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