Life insurance is one of the most important businesses of any country. It's a big vehicle for savings, which must be in the hands of nationals so that they can be used for development. In the Philippines, we have a very unique case. These companies have no interest to develop the Philippines. Their interest is to maximize profits to take out of the country.
Globalization is a challenge to the Filipino business community.
At the APEC summit in Manila in 1996, the big boss of Mitsui group stood up and said it's very good to open up markets and to globalize. But this is like playing golf with professionals without asking for a handicap. But our banks are so small, they don't qualify under your minimum capital requirements. Your banks are so big they can swallow us up in a few years. But the appointments he has announced have been very impressive.