NAYPYITAW, Myanmar -- Top leaders of the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) are now at the Horizon Lakeview Hotel here for the 45th meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Insurance Council (AIC).
PIRA Chairman Allan Santos, Executive Director Michael Rellosa and Trustee Eden Tesoro are now attending meetings on AIC’s various committees. They are joined by Jene Aliwalas and Francis Papa, the former and present Executive Director of the Institute for Asia and the Pacific (IIAP), respectively.
Chairman Santos is chairing the meeting of the AIC Reinsurance Committee while Mr. Rellosa is presiding over the AIC Education Committee which Mr. Aliwalas and Mr. Papa are attending. Ms. Tesoro, meanwhile, is attending the AIC’s Council of Bureaux.
The meetings will last until Thursday, November 28, before the delegates go on a city tour on Friday.
Taking part in the meetings are representatives from both the non-life or general insurance sector and the life insurance sector from 10 countries in Southeast Asia, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Representing the life insurance companies in the Philippines is the Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA).
Also being held here is the gathering of the ASEAN Insurance Regulators from the 10 ASEAN member countries. Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa and Deputy Commissioner Erickson Balmes are representing the Philippines.
The meetings are meant to discuss challenges as well as opportunities in the insurance industry in the region. Among the hot topics that will be discussed is reinsurance pooling, reinsurance education, harmonization of standards in training insurance professionals, cross-border motorcar insurance, insurance for natural disasters, among others.