The Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) is joining the prestigious International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) in a bid to increase its members’ capacity to develop and market marine insurance in the country. PIRA Executive Director Michael Rellosa announced this week that the PIRA Technical Committee on Marine Insurance has approved the proposal for PIRA to become an Associate Member of IUMI and accept the sponsorship of the MUAP that covers PIRA’s first-year membership fees in IUMI. IUMI officials Hinasori Ugra, Kosuje Hashimoto, and Kasunori Okamoto met with PIRA last year to discuss the benefits of membership in the prestigious organization. They met with PIRA Trustees Eden R. Tesoro and Joli Co Wu, and Messrs. Elmer Victor B. Felipe and Mandy Velasquez, all part of PIRA Technical Committee on Marine tasked to evaluate the IUMI membership for the PIRA Board’s approval. “PIRA is honored to be a part of IUMI and to have access to IUMI’s technical resources. Our members will surely benefit from this as they will not be able to access IUMI statistics and other important information, as well as learning modules being offered by IUMI,” Mr. Rellosa said. PIRA will now be an Associate Member of IUMI for the next three years. On top of the education modules, statistics and other learning and underwriting information from the IUMI, PIRA members will also benefit from IUMI’s exclusive network of affiliates and professional partners who are all into marine insurance. PIRA’s initial annual membership fee for IUMI worth P60,000 was sponsored by the Marine Underwriters Association of the Philippines (MUAP) whose members, led by Mr. Kent Cotoco and Mr. Carlos Yturzaeta, have proposed to forge an alliance with to bring back the preeminence that Marine Insurance used to enjoy in the Philippines. MUAP has been a subgroup under PIRA but since its membership has dwindled over the years, its function will now be performed by PIRA’s Technical Committee on Marine Insurance. “As the industry’s umbrella organization and policy-making body, PIRA pledges to carry on the valuable work of the MUAP and recognizes the contribution it has made to the industry,” said Mr. Rellosa. Meanwhile, Mr. Rellosa urged PIRA members to take advantage of the new alliance with IUMI to grow their marine insurance portfolio. The IUMI is the world’s oldest insurance industry association and serves as an influential, trusted and unified voice of the global marine insurance market. It currently represents more than 40 national and marine market insurance and reinsurance associations, and through their respective memberships IUMI covers more than 90 per cent of the world’s marine insurance premiums. Marine insurance in the Philippines is lumped together with aviation insurance with gross premiums amounting to about P6.5 billion in premiums in 2017. It includes protection for damages or losses caused to terminals, ships, and transport or cargo that acquire, transfer, or hold goods between different points of source and final terminus. Marine insurance is protection for shipping and transporters corporations, as it helps lessen the financial loss burden owing to the loss of cargo. The use of online gateways has enhanced customer experience by introducing advanced technologies in the marine industry, such as analytics and digitization, things PIRA members expect to learn from the MUAP and the IUMI.

The present Chairman and Executive Director of the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) are now part of the Board of Trustees of the Insurance Institute for Asia and the Pacific (IIAP). Elected to serve as IIAP’s Trustees for the next three years were PIRA’s Chairman Mr. Allan R. Santos and Executive Director Mr. Michael F. Rellosa along with three other insurance industry stalwarts, namely, Ms. Herminia S. Jacinto, Ms. Esther C. Tan, and Mr. Melecio C. Mallillin. This is the first time that Mr. Santos and Mr. Rellosa will be serving the IIAP as Trustees. Ms.  Jacinto, Ms. Tan and Mr. Mallillin, on the other hand, have all been regulars in the IIAP Board and, Ms. Jacinto and Mr. Mallillin have even served as President or Chairperson, respectively, in past years. Other IIAP Trustees who have been elected in previous years and will still be serving this year are Ms. Nina D. Aguas, Ms. Evelyn Carada, Ms. Joli Co Wu, Ms. Eden R. Tesoro, Mr. Celestino L. Ang, Mr. Renato A. Vergel De Dios, Mr. Armand Pesigan,  Mr. Edgardo D. Rosario, Mr. Albert Santos. and Mr. Enrique M. Zalamea. IIAP Executive Director Francisco D. Papa said the Institute is honored to have these respected leaders in the life and non-life insurance sectors as Trustees. “This year’s Board of Trustees is an all-star cast of the best and the brightest in Philippine insurance. The IIAP is truly honored to have them,” he said. Mr. Papa said Mr. Santos and Mr. Rellosa are expected to contribute important insights from their own fields of expertise such as reinsurance for Mr. Santos, and insurance operations and professional education for Mr. Rellosa. Mr. Santos is the President and CEO of the National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines and the present chairman of the Reinsurance Working Group of the ASEAN Insurance Council (AIC). Mr. Rellosa, meanwhile, retired two years ago as President and COO of Fortune General Insurance Corporation. Concurrently, he is serving as Executive Director of PIRA and chairman of the association’s Education and Public Relations Committee and also the Education Committee of the AIC. The IIAP is introducing major changes this year as the insurance industry evolves to a “better normal. “We strive to develop and deliver courses that are relevant to the needs of our industry not only for the present but more so for the future,” Mr. Papa said.   # # #

Aditya Birla health (ABH), a standalone private health insurer plans to introduce an array of services and product solutions that will enable its customers to take care of their health needs. The health insurer plans to reduce the initial waiting period from 30 to 15 days for all policyholders for COVID-19 related inpatient hospitalisation claims. Another new offering that will be introduced is the extension of the home treatment facility to policyholders, otherwise requiring hospitalisation and where policyholders have been advised home treatment by the treating doctor in line with the government guidelines. The home treatment facility will be provided on a cashless basis through the company’s network providers and empanelled service providers. The company recently launched the indemnity-based health insurance product Corona Kavach policy which covers COVID-19. The policy covers hospitalisation expenses in case of inpatient admission due to COVID-19 infection and any other co-morbidity which a patient may have. In addition, all indemnity products of the company offer hospitalisation covers, in-patient treatment, pre-hospitalisation, post-hospitalisation, and ambulance cover for COVID-19. The group active health and group active secure hospital cash products also cover COVID-19 treatment on indemnity as well as on a fixed benefit basis. Aditya Birla health CEO Mayank Bathwal said that the new COVID-19 products and add-ons to existing products will safeguard the wellbeing of its customers, right from first stage of the virus detection to post-recovery phase covering pre and post-hospitalisation expenses. “We are constantly speaking to our customers to understand their needs and challenges, and suitably modifying our benefits and offerings to support them further,” he said. ABH has also launched an initiative ‘Active Dayz@Home’ during the recent lockdown to facilitate seamless healthcare to patrons. Through its Activ health app, customers can continue earning their HealthReturns by watching and working out with videos on the app. ABH also launched a campaign #HealthFromHome that re-imagined a healthy lifestyle for Indians during the lockdown. Link to original post: https://www.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article/id/72981/Type/eDaily/India-Insurer-to-introduce-new-services-and-products-for-COVID-19

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The picture is a shot of the laptop of PIRA Executive Director Mitch Rellosa as he continues to direct the PIRA team in responding to members’ concerns amidst the extended Enhanced Community Quarantine. PIRA continues to coordinate with regulators and partners on behalf of the non-life insurance industry. For any concerns from member companies and the insuring public, please email PIRA and/or send a message at PIRA's Facebook page. Stay safe and healthy always!

The Insurance Information Institute (III) has launched a new educational initiative, Future of American Insurance and Reinsurance (FAIR) to help the public understand the insurance industry's future role. In a statement published on 18 May, III said that the FAIR campaign aims to “ensure fairness for all customers and safeguard the industry’s long-standing role as a pillar of economic growth and stability”. III has said that the insurance industry will play a critical role in the recovery from the pandemic ahead. III chief executive officer Sean Kevelighan said, "FAIR was created to safeguard the ability of the insurance industry to support its customers at a time when policymakers, the business community, and the general public are searching for solutions to our ongoing economic turmoil. While we recognise the need for financial relief is severe, any attempts to make insurers retroactively responsible for a global pandemic puts the solvency of many insurers at risk. "While the insurance industry has been doing its part to step up and support their communities in this time of crisis, pandemics are fundamentally uninsurable events. “The federal government remains the only entity with the financial resources to help businesses recover from a systemic event of this magnitude. With the support of the public sector and the innovation of groups like insurers in the private sector, we can come together to work toward recovering from this catastrophe and build a more resilient future," said Mr Kevelighan. By Anoop Khanna Asian Insurance Review Original link to post: https://www.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article/id/61780/Type/eDaily/Pandemics-are-uninsurable-Insurance-Information-Institute

The Philippines will invite reinsurers to make a bid again for the planned PHP2bn ($40m) national indemnity insurance programme to insure and protect public assets in disaster-prone areas, this time with less stringent documentary requirements. In a resolution, the interagency Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) said that it had amended tender documents for procurement of services from international brokers and reinsurers for the programme to be undertaken by the state-run pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In particular, the GSIS will now only require from bidders a statement of sovereign or government clients within the past 10 years, instead of a statement of all their ongoing and completed government and private contracts, including contracts awarded but not yet started, if any, whether similar or not similar in nature and complexity to the contract to be bid on, within the relevant period. Bidders will also be required to furnish audited financial statements for calendar years 2018, 2019, 2018-2019, or 2019-2020 in accordance with international financial reporting standards, instead of the earlier requirement of having bidders’ audited financial statement received or stamped by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The GPPB has also made other requirements easier for bidders to meet. In particular, the reinsurance contract will insure against fire, lightning and natural catastrophes—including earthquakes, floods, storm surges, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions—bridges and roads of the Department of Public Works and Highways in 25 provinces, as well as schools of the Department of Education in  metro Manila and 32 provinces. Insurance plan for government assets The insurance programme is aimed at obtaining reinsurance support from the international market through the services of a reinsurance broker for coverage of the public assets. The indemnity insurance policy shall be backed by catastrophe modelling and risk analysis for the government’s strategically important assets. The reinsurance broker shall also help in accessing the reinsurance market, secure the best reinsurance arrangement and rate, and ensure prompt claim handling and settlement and loss recoveries from the reinsurer for the national government’s strategically important assets and their subsequent reinsurance, according to the GSIS. In particular, the reinsurance contract will insure against fire, lightning and natural catastrophes—including earthquakes, floods, storm surges, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions—bridges and roads of the Department of Public Works and Highways in 25 provinces, as well as schools of the Department of Education in  metro Manila and 32 provinces. Last December, National Treasurer Rosalia V de Leon disclosed that a previous tender exercise had failed. The contract would have had covered the period 19 December last year until 19 December this year. Link to original post: https://www.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article/id/61856/Type/eDaily/Philippines-Govt-cuts-red-tape-in-reviving-reinsurance-tender-exercise

While the Philippines has recorded over 15,000 coronavirus cases so far, life insurance players in the country have received few COVID-19 claims which could reflect low insurance penetration -reported local newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer. For instance, AIA Philam Life has paid out only 10 claims related to COVID-19 so far according to chief marketing officer Leonardo Tan. He said these claims came from mostly senior citizens who are either from the middle class or have high net-worth. "Majority of the claims were for death benefits. Technically, this is not a true representation of the real scenario as we have received only a handful of claims and our portfolio of medical products is quite new,” said Mr Tan. Meanwhile, Philippine Life Insurance Association president and Sun Life Philippines chief executive and country head Benedict Sison told the Inquirer last week that there has been no surge in claims even though several life insurers are covering death caused by COVID-19 as well as offering polices that provide hospital income benefit when policyholders are afflicted by the coronavirus. He noted that a major reason behind this trend could be the fact that not all coronavirus patients have insurance coverage as the Philippines is known to be an underpenetrated market when it comes to individual insurance. “A lot of Filipinos are either not aware of the benefits of being insured and being invested or have not considered to be a priority,” he said. However, he has observed that more Filipinos are now becoming more aware of the benefits of having insurance which means that insurers can continue to offer services in order to help them become financially secure amidst the ongoing pandemic. By Ranamita Chakraborty Asian Insurance Review Original link to post: https://www.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article/id/61890/Type/eDaily/Philippines-Few-COVID-19-claims-indicate-low-insurance-penetration

National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (Nat Re) has shown a trend of sustained improvement in underwriting performance over recent years, supported in part by tighter cost discipline and a shift in the company's business mix toward profitable domestic life reinsurance products, notes AM Best. Overall operating results remain positive albeit modest, as strong investment income and realised gains have offset persistent underwriting losses over the past five years. Prospectively, AM Best expects Nat Re’s technical performance to return to technical profitability through continued portfolio remediation measures and improved pricing conditions amid pockets of loss-affected global programmes in which it participates. AM Best has revised the outlooks to stable from negative and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bbb" of Nat Re. AM Best says that the ratings reflect Nat Re’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best categorises as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM). Balance sheet strength The revision of the outlooks to stable reflects Nat Re’s balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation that remains at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), says AM Best. The company’s moderate underwriting leverage and good liquidity level are in line with those of regional peers. Risk-adjusted capitalisation improved in 2019 as the company executed on strategic objectives to reduce investment portfolio exposure to market risk. Some volatility in its capital position has been observed in early 2020 as a result of mark-to-market movements, although this impact has been partially mitigated by the company’s investment portfolio de-risking measures. Prospectively, AM Best expects Nat Re’s capital adequacy to trend lower over the near to medium term, albeit remaining at the strongest level, as the rate of business growth is forecasted to exceed that of its internal capital generation. Business profile AM Best views Nat Re’s business profile as neutral given its strong relationships with local cedants and access to business through mandatory local cessions. As the only domestic reinsurer in the Philippines, Nat Re is well-placed to benefit from regulatory initiatives and upcoming developments in partnership with government agencies, which are expected to strengthen and further diversify its business profile. AM Best considers the company’s ERM framework as appropriate given the size and complexity of its operations. Nat Re continues to enhance its ERM framework and strengthen its risk management capabilities, systems and tools. Link to original post: https://www.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article/id/61925/Type/eDaily/Philippines-Nat-Re-shows-sustained-improvement-in-underwriting-performance/