THE estimated total number of lives covered by microinsurance products in the Philippines breached the 50-million mark last year amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Insurance Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that the number of insured lives by microinsurance products last year hit 50.35 million, surging by 11.56 percent from 45.13 million in 2019, based on unaudited Quarterly Reports on Selected Financial Statistics (QRSFS) from microinsurance providers. “We hope that these figures will be confirmed by the later submission of audited annual statements for the year 2020 by our microinsurance providers. If the QRSFS will be confirmed, then the Insurance Commission will have reached its target of 50 million microinsured lives two years earlier—a target that we initially foresaw will be reached by 2022,” Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa said.

MANILA, Philippines—The pandemic-induced recession that battered financial markets everywhere led to a drop in life insurers’ investment incomes and pulled down the entire domestic insurance industry’s bottom line by 8.6 percent to P41.2 billion in 2020. The latest Insurance Commission (IC) data showed that the total net income of 126 life and non-life insurance firms, as well as mutual benefit associations (MBAs), i 2020 declined from P45.1 billion in 2019. Separate IC data showed that life insurance companies’ combined 2020 net income fell 16.4 percent to P30.2 billon from 2019’s P36.1 billion. Bucking the trend, non-life players, on the other hand, raised their total net income by 65.8 percent to P5.6 billion from P3.4 billion in 2019. Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook

The Insurance Commission (IC) has processed all monetary claims as well as license and product applications last year to meet the growing needs of the insurance industry, the Department of Finance (DOF) said. In a report submitted to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, IC said the agency examined the books of 26 life insurance companies, five composite firms, and 35 mutual benefit associations (MBAs).