It was May 13, 2015 when a fire broke out inside the Kentex Manufacturing Corporation in Valenzuela, Metro Manila. With over 200 workers, 150 were present inside the footwear factory when welding sparks ignited chemicals which quickly caused smoke and fire to spread. Black smoke engulfed the building quickly, rendering those in the second floor unable to escape. There were 74 casualties in the fire. The incident gave rise to a series of cases and efforts of unions arraigning the company to answer its alleged illegal and exploitative labor practices and health and safety protocols. In 2016, little a year over the incident, Ombudsman Carpio-Morales ordered criminal charges to be filed against the city mayor, 6 city officials, and the Kentex company owner. According to Business Human Rights, “Morales said their investigation showed that the city officials issued business permits and fire safety certificates to Kentex despite blatant violations of the Fire Code, such as failing to “install a wet standpipe system, unserviceable extinguishers, lack of automatic fire alarm and sprinkler system, and absence of fire exit drills for workers.”…” In 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the Kentex contractor to pay Php 1.4 million to its workers. Sources: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/kentexs-lawyer-responds-to-questions-about-health-safety-standards-fire-code-labour-rights/ https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/philippines-supreme-court-orders-kentex-contractor-to-pay-php14m-in-unpaid-wages/

Updates at the Insurance Commission on 27 April 2022. Left to right: Ms. Erika Liv B. Cervantes, IC Ms. Glenda A. Ortaliz, IC Mr. Darius M. de Guzman, NatRe Atty. Maria Palanca, World Bank Mr. Michael F. Rellosa, PIRA Exec. Director Ms. Deanna Villacin, World Bank Mr. Edgardo D. Rosario, PIRA Chairman IC Dep. Comm. Erickson H. Balmes Mr. Benedikt Lukas Signer, World Bank Senior Financial Sector Specialist Ms. Tatiana Skalon, World Bank Mr. Olivier Mahul, World Bank Atty. Joanne Frances DC. Castro, IC Atty. Brian Gale T. Sibuyan, IC Ms. Edna G. Bernales, IC Atty. Albert Lawrence A. Vinzon, IC Atty. Camille May P. Medina, IC Atty. Alwyn Franz P. Villaruel, IC

PERILS Industry Exposure Database 2022: EUR 64.8 trillion property assets insured against storm damage in Europe, growth in all covered markets PERILS has today released the PERILS Industry Exposure Database (IED) 2022. The database contains up-to-date information about property market sums insured exposed to natural perils in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Indonesia, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The market sums insured are available by CRESTA zone, line of business and coverage type. For more information, please see the attached press release. We thank our insurance partners for providing us with their most up-to-date exposure information to create the new IEDs, which can be accessed via the PERILS Portal at www.perils.org. Base de données d’exposition PERILS 2022 : 64 800 milliards d’euros d’actifs immobiliers assurés contre le risque tempête en Europe, croissance sur tous les marchés couverts PERILS a publié aujourd’hui la mise à jour de sa base de données d’exposition marché 2022. La base de données contient les sommes assurées actualisées pour les risques de catastrophes naturelles dans les pays suivants : Allemagne, Australie, Autriche, Belgique, Canada, Danemark, France, Indonésie, Irlande, Italie, Luxembourg, Norvège, Nouvelle-Zélande, Pays-Bas, Philippines, Royaume-Uni, Suède, Suisse, Thaïlande, Turquie. Les sommes assurées marché sont disponibles par zone CRESTA et par type de risque. Pour plus d’information, veuillez consulter le communiqué de presse ci-joint. Nous remercions vivement nos partenaires assureurs de nous avoir fourni leurs données d’exposition les plus à jour, cela nous a permis d’actualiser notre base de données d’exposition. Cette dernière est disponible via le portail de PERILS à l’adresse www.perils.org. PERILS Markt-VS Datenbank 2022: EUR 64‘800 Milliarden Bestandswerte in Europa gegen Sturmschäden versichert, Wachstum in allen abgedeckten Märkten Die PERILS AG hat heute die Ausgabe der aktualisierten Markt-VS Datenbank für das Jahr 2022 bekanntgegeben. Die Datenbank enthält Naturgefahren-exponierte Versicherungssummen für Australien, Belgien, Dänemark, Deutschland, Frankreich, Grossbritannien, Holland, Indonesien, Irland, Italien, Kanada, Luxemburg, Neuseeland, Norwegen, Österreich, Philippinen, Schweden, Schweiz, Thailand und die Türkei. Für jedes Land sind die Markt-Bestandsdaten pro CRESTA Zone, Sachbranche und Deckungstyp erhältlich. Weitere Informationen finden Sie bitte in der beigelegten Pressemitteilung. Wir bedanken uns ganz herzlich bei unseren Versicherungspartnern für die Bereitstellung der neusten VS Informationen, welche die Aktualisierung der Market-VS Datenbank ermöglichte. Die Datenbank ist im PERILS Portal unter www.perils.org abrufbar.

It was the early morning of April 15 in 1912 when the famous RMS Titanic, the largest, most advanced, and best luxurious ship at the time, sunk. With an estimated number of 2,200 passengers, the peacetime maritime tragedy had 1,500 casualties, unfortunately while on its fourth day of its maiden voyage. As History recalls: On April 14, after four days of uneventful sailing, Titanic received sporadic reports of ice from other ships, but she was sailing on calm seas under a moonless, clear sky. At about 11:30 p.m., a lookout saw an iceberg coming out of a slight haze dead ahead, then rang the warning bell and telephoned the bridge. The engines were quickly reversed and the ship was turned sharply—instead of making direct impact, Titanic seemed to graze along the side of the berg, sprinkling ice fragments on the forward deck. But the lookouts did not expect the underwater spur of the iceberg, which slashed the ship. Checking the damage with seawater already flooding the compartments, the Titanic was said to remain afloat for a calculation of an hour or more, which gave way to the lifeboat evacuations – which were also later on confirmed to be disorganized and very haphazard. The Titanic fully sank at approximately 2:20 in the morning of April 15, with only 705 survivors. Sources: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/apr15/titanic-sinks https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/titanic

The Philippines is now being emulated as a gold standard in microinsurance. And Asia Insurance Review (AIR) recently came up with an article showing four ways that helped the Philippines achieve this feat. In an article published in its April 2022 issue, AIR interviewed the head of a Philippine microinsurance company who provided insights on how the country became a role model in providing insurance protection to underserved customers. CARD Pioneer president and Microinsurance Network board chair Mr. Lorenzo Chan told AIR that four major factors contributed to the rise of microinsurance in the Philippines. And these were: 1. The shift from company-centric to customer-centric. 2. Focusing on genuine claims. 3. Innovative approaches. And 4. Dealing with negative stereotypes. According to Mr. Chan, the unprecedented growth of microinsurance in the Philippines can be credited to the shift of mindset from "company- centric" to "customer-centric". “Rather than starting from our requirements which were originally crafted for the more traditionally affluent and corporate markets, we focused attention on the lower-income sector and what they needed,” he said. The AIR article noted that microinsurance companies were mindful of the fact that insurance is still a product that needed to be sold and were well aware of the need to build trust and credibility with what was then a new market – the "micro" market. To be able to do this, Insurance companies built partnerships with organizations that the mass or micro-markets patronized or were familiar with and trusted and these included microfinance institutions, rural banks, pawnshops, schools, NGOs and other types of retail outlets. Mr. Chan added that a partnership required working together to determine the needs of the target market. He explained that customization was necessary for both products and services such as simplified enrolment and claims processing. “Speedy and proper payment of claims is vital since claims settlement is ultimately the best articulation of the product’s value. While claims settlement sounds simple and straightforward, it is often a source of complaint,” Mr. Chan told AIR. Innovation was also a key in the public's acceptance of microinsurance. According to Mr. Chan, bundling of products at an affordable price and committing to settling claims within five days were the major novelties that made microinsurance sellable. . He added that to facilitate claims processing, the mobile ‘phone became the most convenient and effective tool for conducting interviews and validating claims by video. However, despite the steady progress in covering an increasing number of people, Mr. Chan said there is still a long way to go given the size of the market. He believes that there remains in some parts the negative stereotype of insurance as being expensive, too technical, hard to comprehend, quick to collect but slow to pay claims. And this is something microinsurance should address to sustain its growth. Insurance Commission's data reveals that 50.35 million Filipinos were already covered by microinsurance as of 31 December 2020, an increase of 11.56 % from the previous 12 months. The life and non-life insurance sectors accounted for 29.19% and 13.29% of the total coverage, and microinsurance providers collected a total of PHP7.8 billion ($162.8 million) in premiums.

Courtesy of the ASEAN Insurance Council

Global reinsurance broker, Gallagher Re, has outlined several developments in property reinsurance during the 1 April 2022 renewal period in the Philippine market. In its "1st View" report released last week, Gallagher Re highlighted the following developments: Renewal pricing highly dependent on loss activity, and the impact of Typhoon Rai/Odette on each buyer, dictated terms for renewal Loss impacted layers saw pricing increases anywhere between +20% and +35% Pricing for the higher attaching loss free layers ranged between -2% and +2% Proportional capacity continued to come at a premium with reinsurers lowering Event Limits, reducing commissions and broadening loss participation corridors Excess of Loss capacity remained adequate although levels of over-placement were lower compared to last renewal. No new Proportional capacity came into the market. Source: asiainsurancereview.com

Speaker: Mr. Alvin Arogo - VP and Head Research Division PNB Mr. Miguel Veneracion - Relationship Officer Multinationals Division PNB