As a young and aspiring financial services practitioner, I was often excited to get nuggets of financial wisdom from one of the pillars of the insurance and mutual funds industry. I often found myself wanting to hear more from the next featured expert and I feel blessed to be able to attend a number of learning opportunities from him. Let me now feature the prospective views of someone who is well admired and respected by many, Mr. Henry Herrera.

2012 Outlook of Henry Joseph Herrera

• 2012: a volatile year for global equities on account of fiscal deficit and debt issues largely in EU and US, slowdown of global economy and its impact on emerging markets, and worsening impact on countries of natural disasters (such as those caused by global warming).

• Spikes in interest rates may be in the menu for countries who are unable to get a handle of their ballooning fiscal deficits and national debts. More country sovereign credit downgrades may be expected.

• Investment opportunities abound where financial threats exists. Focus should be on safety and liquidity of invested assets while the “dark clouds” persist. Reduced weighting on risky assets is the prudent approach at this time. The possibility of much cheaper asset prices sometime in the near future is not unlikely. Returns on fixed income instruments will remain subdued, at best, given the low prevailing rates in the country.

  Mr. Henry Joseph Herrera was the former President and CEO of Sun Life Philippines and a well sought after expert in his field.

  Henry joined Sun Life in 1998 and has held a number of senior positions including EVP & Actuary, VP & Actuary, and SLAMC COO.  He was AVP, Actuarial for the Region in 1998.  Prior to his career at Sun Life, Henry was the President and Director of Philippine Asia Life Assurance Corporation.

  Henry has over 28 years experience in the life insurance industry. He holds an MBA degree major in finance and a B.S. in Statistics, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines. He is also a Fellow and past president of Actuarial Society of the Philippines and a member of the International Actuarial Association.  He is a past president of the Philippine Life Insurance Association.