The Covid-19 pandemic has made many Filipinos aware of their need for insurance protection. Now, the country’s insurance providers believe it is time to convince Filipinos to make insurance a priority. Lawyer Francisco M. Nob, president of the Philippine Insurers Club, said it is high time that Filipinos recognize insurance as a priority in their spending, especially for those that are at risk both for health and losing properties from accidents and natural calamities. Lawyer Francisco M. Nob, president of the Philippine Insurers Club “We Filipinos are becoming more conscious of our need for insurance, particularly health insurance, because of this pandemic. But the question is: Is insurance a part of our priorities as a people? It is in this area where we need to campaign more -- to make insurance a priority,” he said. Nob made this pronouncement as the country’s insurance industry celebrates this year’s Insurance Consciousness Week, a national event that highlights the value of insurance. He encouraged insurance companies to ride the wave of awareness that the pandemic has caused for insurance by retooling their products and making them more affordable and accessible to Filipinos. “Microinsurance is one way of doing this by offering insurance protection in sachet form; small coverages and affordable premium” he said. “TOUCH POINTS” Nob, who is Head of Claims Department of COCOGEN Insurance, Inc, also encouraged insurance providers to develop new “touch points” to make insurance more tangible to customers. “Usually, the major touch points a company has with its clients is when first, when you send an insurance quote, second is when you issue the policy and receive the premium, and the third would be through renewal “kasi hindi naman lahat may claim,” he explained. He went on to say that those with claims usually comprise a smaller percentage of the clients. And the larger percentage would not be able to experience the real value and importance of their insurance policy because they happen to have no claim. "The challenge is how to increase the touch points with those in the larger group to make them feel that insurance is a significant element of their existence as an individual or as a business owner? Yun ang hamon sa ating lahat,” he said. VLOGGING CONTEST Meanwhile, to engage employees of all insurance-related companies in the Insurance Consciousness Week, the PIC in cooperation with the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) and the Insurance Commission (IC) is launching a Vlogging Competition. The competition is open to all employees of all companies related to insurance -- insurance providers, brokers, agents, adjusters, and even those working for PIRA, the IC and life insurance companies. Those who wish to join should produce a video with a maximum length of 2 minutes and upload it to the Phil Insurers Club The Official page on Facebook not later than October 31, 2021. The top three videos will win P20,000, P10,000 and P5,000, respectively. Winners will be known within November 2021.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a stronger interest in insurance, with three-fourths of Filipinos surveyed by AIA Group agreeing that insurance has become more important than ever for protection in case of unexpected incidents. AIA's “Save Smarter Study 2021” finds that more than a quarter (27%) of the 800 Filipinos polled say they plan to increase their allocation of funds to insurance. Of those planning to raise spending on insurance, 80% intend to spend more on life insurance and 60% say they plan to spend more on medical and health insurance. Source: asiainsurancereview.com

The Financial Stability Coordination Council (FSCC) has been formally established following the recent signing by President Rodrigo Duterte of an executive order. The FSCC is an interagency council composed of the Insurance Commission, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Department of Finance, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. It has been working informally for several years. Source: asiainsurancereview.com

Malayan Insurance continues to report good technical results for its motor business, which helps offset the unfavourable performance of its fire business, notes AM Best. The insurer's overall underwriting performance has been hampered by volatility and unfavourable loss experience from its fire business over recent years, driven by catastrophe and large loss events. Malayan Insurance, the biggest non-life insurer in the Philippines has reported a five-year average combined ratio and return-on-equity ratio of 99.9% and 4.6%, respectively (2016-2020), a performance which AM Best assesses as adequate. Investment income, which is comprised of interest and dividend income, continues to be the principal contributor to Malayan’s overall earnings. Source: asiainsurancereview.com

Global insurance demand will grow by an above-trend 3.3% in 2021 and 3.9% in 2022, says Swiss Re in its latest sigma report titled "World insurance: the recovery gains pace". The global reinsurance giant forecasts a much faster rebound than from the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008–09. The economic recovery and the strongest rate hardening for 20 years in non-life insurance commercial lines will push premiums 10% above pre-COVID19-crisis levels this year and lift the global insurance market to more than $7tn by the end of 2022. In 2020, global real premiums fell 1.3%, about a third of the drop in GDP. As expected, premiums held up better in emerging markets (+0.8%) than advanced (-1.8%), largely due to the strength of China. Source: asiainsurancereview.com

As the global situation with the COVID-19 is being put under control with the massive vaccination being currently in progress, #AgroInsurance team confirms that the International #Conference “Agroinsurance, Reinsurance & Brokerage for CIS, #Europe & #Asia” is planned for #October 4-6, 2021 in Biltmore Hotel #Tbilisi. Program will focus on challenges and #technical specifics of introduction and upscaling of #crop and #livestock insurance programs. https://agroinsurance.com/.../event-update-agroinsurance.../

Reinsurance rate increases continued for most major lines and territories during the 1 June and 1 July renewal period; however, in many cases reinsurers had to accept firm order terms below their initial quotes, according to the latest 1st View renewals report from Willis Re, the reinsurance division of Willis Towers Watson.

The South China, Indochina, Indonesia and Philippines shipping region continued to top the list of regions for shipping losses in 2020, according to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) in its report titled "Safety and Shipping Review 2021". The report, which identifies loss trends and highlights a number of risk challenges for the maritime sector, says that the region accounted for a third of all losses in 2020 (16), with incidents up slightly year-on-year (2019: 14). Together, the South China, Indochina, Indonesia and Philippines, East Mediterranean and Black Sea, and Japan, Korea and North China maritime regions accounted for half of the 876 shipping losses of the past 10 years (437). Overall, the international shipping sector continued its long-term positive safety trend through 2020 with the number of reported total losses of over 100GT remaining stable at 49 compared with 48 a year earlier. Source: asiainsurancereview.com

COVID-19-related insurance payouts surged to PHP8.25bn ($165m) as of 30 June 2021, the Insurance Commission (IC) has announced. The IC also reported that total COVID-19-related claim payouts reached PHP4.35bn from January to June 2021 alone, exceeding the total of PHP3.9bn for the whole of 2020. "The figures provided show that the claims paid increased drastically from February to April and dipped slightly in June. This reflects the reported spike in COVID-19 cases in the Philippines between March and May which prompted the government to impose stricter quarantine measures during said months," Commissioner Dennis Funa was quoted as saying. Health maintenance organisations (HMOs) accounted for the largest share of the payout with PHP3.98bn, or 48% of the total, according to a statement released by the regulator. Life insurers were next, receiving PHP3.44bn, or 42%; mutual benefit associations (MBAs) came in third with PHP546.60m, or 7%; and non-life insurers accounted for the remaining PHP279.30m or 3%. From the beginning of the pandemic early last year to the end of June 2021, COVID-19-related death benefit claims totalled PHP2.89bn. In-patient-related claims reached PHP2.65bn while out-patient-related benefits amounted to PHP1.81bn. Business interruption claims “Also worth mentioning is the fact that non-life insurance companies have paid PHP37.6m in business interruption claims due to the effects of business closures and the imposition of quarantine measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mr Funa said. Despite the challenges and risks posed by the pandemic, as well as the significant increase in COVID-19-related claims, Mr Funa emphasised that life and non-life insurers, HMOs, and MBAs are financially resilient. The IC surveyed 117 out of 147 life and non-life insurers, HMOs and MBAs to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry. Source: asiainsurancereview.com