2 INDUSTRY LEADERS VOTED AS NEW TRUSTEES

Two insurance industry leaders were recently elected as new members of the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA).

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Ms. Generosa "Gigi" Pio de Roda and Mr. Daniel "Danny" C. Go are the two additions to the PIRA Board replacing Shankar Sinha and Andrew Dee Co who have served their terms of office.

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Ms. Pio de Roda is the President and CEO of FPG Insurance and the former Chief Operating Officer of Philamlife. She is expected to contribute important insights in business operations transformation with focus on customer experience. She will serve as Trustee and Corporate Secretary of PIRA for this year.

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Meanwhile, Mr. Go is the President and CEO of MAA General Assurance and former Vice President for Marketing of Prudential Guarantee. He is an authority in motor car insurance

Ms. Generosa "Gigi" Pio de Roda

Mr. Daniel 
"Danny" Go

and once headed the Association of Insurance Claimsmen. He will serve PIRA both as Trustee and Deputy Chairman for 2021.

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Mr. Allan R. Santos, President and CEO of National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines has been reelected Chairman for the third year and he expressed his gratitude to the PIRA members for their trust in his leadership. He exhorted the 58 member companies of the country's non-life insurance industry group to continue working together to weather the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic recession that the world is experiencing.

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"We have proven time and again that we are indeed stronger and better when we work together," he said.

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Other elected Trustees of PIRA for 2021 are Ms. Joli Co Wu, President, CEO and Chief Underwriting Officer of Paramount Life and General Insurance Corp. as Trustee and Treasurer; Mr. Alberto C. Santos, Jr., Business Director of BPI/MS Insurance Corporation; Ms. Eden R. Tesoro, Chief Underwriting Officer of Malayan Insurance Company; Mr. Edgardo D. Rosario, Senior Vice President of UCPB General Insurance Company; Mr. Armand M. Pesigan, Senior Vice President of Pioneer Insurance and Surety Corporation; Mr. Arturo B. Reyes, President and CEO of Sterling Insurance Company, Inc. as Trustees.

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Retired banker Carmela Leticia "Carlet" A. Pama and former Ateneo Dean and now Ateneo Vice President Rodolfo "Rudy" P. Ang will again be serving PIRA as Independent Directors, while Mr. Michael "Mitch" F. Rellosa and Mr. Rogelio "Roger" J. Concepcion will again serve as Executive Director and General Manager of the Association, respectively.
 

BIG WIN FOR PHILIPPINE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

The National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (NatRe) just won Reinsurer of the Year in this year's Asia Insurance Industry Awards.

According to Asia Insurance Review, the organizer of the event,  NatRe was lauded for its involvement in several initiatives aimed at promoting climate-risk insurance, pursuing reinsurance pooling opportunities and advancing risk-informed decision making.

Amidst pandemic-induced confusion in the market - and turbulent economic conditions globally - NatRe stood tall together with  16 other heroes of the insurance and risk-management sector recognised for excellence at the highly-prestigious awards ceremony held online the night of November 2, 2020.

Congratulations to PIRA Chairman Allan Santos for this huge victory for our country which came at the heels of the successful hosting of the Philippines of the 46th ASEAN Insurance Council (AIC) and 23rd ASEAN Insurance Regulators Meeting which he also headed.      Photo © Cherry Sumague-Palacio

PHILIPPINES SUCCESSFULLY HOSTS 23RD ASEAN INSURANCE REGULATORS MEETING AND 46TH ASEAN INSURANCE COUNCIL MEETINGS

Regulators and leaders of the insurance industry all over the 10 countries of Southeast Asia gathered online for the 46th ASEAN Insurance Council (AIC) and 23rd ASEAN Insurance Regulators Meeting (AIRM), both hosted by the Philippines.

Thanks to videoconferencing technology, however, insurance regulators and insurance industry leaders from 10 countries of Southeast Asia were still able to meet, discuss the challenges they are all facing, and propose solutions and directions moving forward.

For several days in October, leaders from the life and general insurance sectors from Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the host Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam met through Zoom videoconferencing -- a first in history -- to update themselves of what each has been doing based on what they have agreed in their previous meeting in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar last year.

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The leaders also spotlighted how Covid-19 is affecting their jurisdictions, and how the insurance sector is trying to survive and thrive amidst these trying times.

In the latter part of the month, it was the regulators' turn to meet, and they followed it up with a Joint Plenary Meeting with industry leaders.

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Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa from the Philippines, who chaired this year's meetings, was elated at their success in serving their purpose of enabling a healthy exchange of ideas among the leaders.

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Among the major points discussed in the meetings were the following:

1.  Cross-border issues for motor vehicle insurance that affect the countries in the Southeast Asian mainland;

2.  Insurance for natural catastrophes which mostly affect disaster-prone countries like the Philippines and Indonesia;

3.  Agriculture insurance which is very successful in Thailand.

4.  Digital innovations such as online examination for agents and other approaches to address the limitations from Covid-19 lockdowns;

5.  The continuing development of insurance education, especially in the field of insurtech; and

6.  Insurance products for the pandemic.

PIRA Chairman Allan Santos, who also chaired the events' organizing committee, highlighted the "silver linings" in the Covid-19 crisis, among them the industry's accelerated adoption of digitalization and the fresh realization of people of the need for insurance.