The General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ) is inviting nominations for the 36th Advanced Course of The Insurance School (Non-Life), 2026, focused on building resilient and sustainable insurance strategies. Open to next-generation insurance leaders, with 2 slots for the Philippines (1 for PIRA and 1 for IC).​ Key Dates: • Application submission to PIRA: Feb. 20, 2026 • Online sessions: May 27 – June 2, 2026 • In-person sessions: June 10 – 16, 2026 (Tokyo, Japan) Nominees must attend both online and face-to-face sessions.

The industry-supported Actuarial Project on Tariff Rates has entered the data collection phase, with companies preparing to extract and upload their seven-year data ahead of the actuarial analysis. Coordinated by PIRA with the Insurance Commission, actuarial experts, and member companies, the project aims to modernize tariff structures for Motor Car, Property, and Surety lines using a more data-driven and sustainable approach. Data tools are undergoing final security testing, with the project set for completion in the first half of 2026 and the release of a new Tariff Manual.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA), with support from the World Bank, is setting up the country’s first agricultural co-insurance pool to expand private sector participation in agricultural insurance and improve coverage for semi-commercial and commercial farmers. The planned co-insurance pool is part of an $870-million World Bank-supported program that aims to increase access to credit and insurance for farmers, fisherfolk, and agri-micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines. “The DA wants to encourage private insurers to engage in agricultural insurance,” Israel Q. Dela Cruz, business development and marketing department manager at the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), told BusinessWorld in an interview. “At the moment, PCIC is the only main agricultural insurer, along with two other private insurers,” he added. The proposed co-insurance pool will allow private insurers and the PCIC to jointly offer standardized insurance products while sharing risks and operating costs through a common platform. The program is modeled after agricultural insurance pool schemes such as Spain’s Agroseguro and Turkey’s Agricultural Insurance Pool or TARSİM, but PCIC said the Philippine version will not operate as a separate legal entity and instead function as a coordinating mechanism. The DA is expecting at least five private insurers to join the program, although more than 10 companies have already expressed interest during consultations, Mr. Dela Cruz said. The co-insurance program aims to benefit around 750,000 farmers by the time it concludes in 2030. It will be funded through $70 million in World Bank loan proceeds over five years. Part of the funding will be allocated to a “firs t loss” facility to absorb early claims and reduce private insurers’ risk exposure as they enter the sector. “That means if there are payouts in the first year, they will be covered by the program. Of course, private insurers tend to hesitate, especially in the agricultural insurance business, because they may fear having to pay out large claims right away,” Mr. Dela Cruz said. A portion of the budget will also cover partial premium subsidies for selected farmer segments and startup and operating costs. Meanwhile, Mr. Dela Cruz said a pool manager will be selected to oversee the scheme’s operations, including supervising a technical support unit that will handle underwriting, marketing, claims assessment, financial management, and organizational functions. “Options currently being explored for the pool manager include the National Reinsurance Corp., PCIC, or a private sector insurer,” the World Bank said in an earlier project document. Personnel from the PCIC and participating private insurers are expected to be assigned to the technical support unit, which will serve as the operational arm of the pool. The DA is also setting up an agri-risk management office that will study appropriate subsidy levels and guide risk analysis for the program, including determining how much premium support may be provided to eligible farmer segments. Mr. Dela Cruz said preparatory work is ongoing, including drafting product designs, forming committees, and preparing terms of reference, but full implementation will depend on the approval of the program loan. “Since it’s a program loan, it has to be approved by the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development. Only then can we start the project,” he said. Mr. Dela Cruz said the government is targeting approval around June or July, with operations expected to begin soon after. Source: www.bworldonline.com

The total premiums of the Philippine insurance industry breached the PHP500bn ($8.6bn) mark in 2025, driven by consumers' increasing focus on long-term protection despite economic uncertainties. Data from the Insurance Commission showed that premiums from the life, non-life, and mutual benefit sectors stood at PHP502.6bn at the end of 2025, up by 14.1% from PHP440.5bn in 2024. The life insurance sector remained the driving force of the Philippine insurance industry, accounting for 80.22% of the total premiums, or around PHP403bn.   The total net income of the insurance industry also rose 15%?to PHP64.79bn in 2025.   Insurance penetration in the Southeast Asian country increased to 1.79% in 2025, up from 1.67% in 2024. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

WHEN the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight on Jan. 27, 2026 — the closest it has ever been to global catastrophe — it was not merely updating a symbol. It was issuing an indictment. An indictment of failed leadership, collapsing cooperation, unmanaged technological risk and a global system increasingly unable to absorb shocks. For many, this warning will again feel abstract — another grim headline in an already anxious world. For the Philippine insurance industry, it should feel uncomfortably concrete. Because when the world edges closer to systemic failure, insurance is no longer a peripheral financial service. It becomes a core pillar of national resilience — or a glaring point of weakness if it fails to evolve. When global risk accelerates, local exposure multiplies The Doomsday Clock reflects converging threats: nuclear escalation, climate breakdown, biological risk, and the reckless deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) amid eroding trust and disinformation. The Philippines did not create these risks. But we are disproportionately exposed to their consequences. We sit at the crossroads of climate volatility, fragile supply chains, food and energy price shocks, cyber vulnerability and geopolitical spillovers. When global systems destabilize, the impact arrives here faster and harder — and recovery costs us more. This is the uncomfortable truth: Global existential risk translates into local financial fragility. And that is where insurance becomes decisive. Clock is warning of systemic failure — not isolated disasters What the Bulletin is signaling is not the likelihood of one singular apocalypse, but the danger of cascading failures — multiple crises overwhelming institutions simultaneously. Insurance professionals understand this dynamic well. A typhoon is survivable. A pandemic is survivable. A cyber disruption is survivable. But when disasters overlap — when climate loss collides with supply shocks, governance stress, digital disruption and public mistrust — the question is no longer whether losses occur, but whether systems hold. In such moments, underinsurance is not just a personal hardship. It becomes a national risk amplifier. Philippine protection gap is now a strategic vulnerability Too many Filipinos remain uninsured or inadequately protected — not only against catastrophic loss, but against income interruption, health shocks, agricultural failure, and small and medium enterprises (SME) collapse. In calmer times, this is a developmental concern. At 85 seconds to midnight, it is a resilience failure. Because uninsured households fall into poverty faster. Uninsured businesses close permanently. Uninsured communities depend longer on government aid — straining public finances precisely when fiscal space is shrinking. In a world of cascading crises, the protection gap is no longer a market statistic. It is a fault line. What the industry can — and must — do now The Philippine insurance industry cannot pull back the Doomsday Clock by itself. But it can reduce the probability that global shocks become national breakdowns. That responsibility is squarely within our ambit. Five actions are no longer optional: First: Treat insurance explicitly as resilience infrastructure. This means aligning product design, capital allocation and industry advocacy with national resilience outcomes — not just premium growth. Second: Close the protection gap at scale. Microinsurance, parametric covers, agricultural risk pools, SME business interruption products — these must move from niche solutions to industry priorities, supported by data, technology and distribution partnerships. Third: Invest seriously in catastrophe modeling and reinsurance depth. As climate volatility intensifies, underpriced risk is not competitive — it is destabilizing. Solvency is resilience. Fourth: Make claims efficiency a trust mandate, not an operational metric. In an era of disinformation and institutional distrust, claims performance is the industry’s most powerful credibility signal. Fifth: Elevate cyber and AI risk to the level of systemic concern. These are no longer IT issues. They are insurable threats with economy-wide implications, requiring shared standards, data and coordination. None of these actions require new treaties or global summits. They require industry will. Leadership is what the clock is demanding The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was blunt in its assessment: The clock moved forward because of failure of leadership. Leadership is not only the domain of presidents and generals. In moments of accelerating risk, leadership also belongs to institutions that stabilize societies quietly — by enabling recovery, restoring confidence and preventing economic free fall. That has always been the insurance industry’s deeper purpose. Midnight is not inevitable — but inaction is a choice The Doomsday Clock is not a prophecy. It is a warning calibrated by scientists who believe catastrophe can still be avoided. For the Philippines, the lesson is stark: We cannot control global geopolitics, but we can control how prepared our people are when shocks arrive. If midnight is approaching, then insurance is not just about protection. It is about continuity. It is about social stability. It is about keeping crises from becoming a collapse. At 85 seconds to midnight, the most dangerous response is not fear. It is complacency. And the most constructive response — for our industry — is to finally act like the resilience institution the country will increasingly depend on. Source: www.manilatimes.net

Aon has appointed Mr Karl Hamann as CEO of the Philippines, effective 1 April 2026 and subject to regulatory requirements. In his new role, Mr Hamann will focus on further advancing Aon’s integrated solutions strategy and helping clients navigate increasingly interconnected risks with greater clarity and confidence. He will work closely with regional solution line leaders to align priorities, deepen client engagement and support sustained growth. Mr Hamann brings more than three decades of experience across APAC and global markets, with deep expertise in insurance, risk advisory and operational leadership. He has held CEO roles across the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia Singapore and South Asia, before joining Aon in 2022 as CEO of Indonesia. Mr Hamann takes over from Mr Darren Oliver , who will transition into a newly appointed regional role as Head of Market Development, APAC Health Solutions. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

Two major cyber-attacks on Asian companies feature in Tokio Marine HCC International's (TMHCCI) annual 'Top 10 cyber incidents report' for 2025. The latest report highlights large-scale ransomware, systemic cloud outages and the first documented AI-orchestrated cyberattack at scale, as operational disruption and supply-chain dependencies continue to amplify financial and business risk across industries. Compiled by TMHCCI’s Cyber Security team, the report highlights how ransomware, technology supply-chain compromise and cloud infrastructure concentration continue to drive systemic cyber risk for organisations worldwide. The incidents listed – not ranked – span retail, automotive, cloud infrastructure, telecommunications and luxury goods sectors and includes two major incidents from the Asian region – South Korea’s SK Telecom and Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings. The 10 most significant cyber incidents featured TMHCCI’s report include: Marks & Spencer ransomware incident : Operations were disrupted at one of the UK’s largest retailers causing an estimated £300m impact to operating profit and triggering broader sector-wide effects as other major UK retailers, such as Co-op and Harrods, also experienced cyber incidents. Jaguar Land Rover ransomware attack:  The breach on British automotive manufacturer has been marked as the most economically damaging cyber incident to hit the UK. The shutdown of vehicle production resulted in a £1.9bn financial loss. Amazon Web Services, Azure and Cloudflare outages:  A series of major outages caused widespread global disruption, highlighting the systemic risk of cloud concentration affecting online services and customer-facing platforms which triggered cascading service failures across SaaS organisations. Salesforce / Drift OAuth large-scale data breach:  The breach exploited compromised OAuth tokens to access hundreds of Salesforce customer environments, exposing the records, contact details and account information of millions of customers. Npm Ecosystem supply-chain attack:  The IT software provider compromised widely used JavaScript packages exposing developers’ and organisations’ environments to credential theft. Oracle Corporation Cloud Platform alleged supply-chain breach : The breach reportedly affected over 140,000 tenants with the threat actors claiming exfiltration of around 6 million records as a result of a data breach achieved via the login endpoint. APT group used Claude AI to carry out AI-orchestrated cyberattacks: Marking one of the first known AI-orchestrated cyberattacks at scale, a state-sponsored cyber-espionage company used Claude AI to lead a large-scale autonomous attack targeting around 30 global organisations with 80-90% of the campaign being automated. SK Telecom: The cybersecurity breach was detected in April exposed the data of nearly 27m users creating widespread risk of SIM-cloning, and identity theft. Attackers had maintained undetected access since June 2022. Kering Group:  After an unauthorised third party had temporarily accessed Kering’s internal systems, fashion brands including Gucci, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen were affected by a cyberattack which exposed personal information of millions of customers globally. Asahi Group Holdings:  A detected cyberattack forced the company to suspend key operational systems in Japan, causing widespread disruption to order processes and shipments. The author of the report, TMHCCI Cyber Security Leader Isaac Guasch, added, “From financial losses to widespread cloud outages, it’s striking over the past 12 months to see the pace of change and how these threats have evolved. Tracking these incidents year-on-year helps the market stay ahead of emerging cyber threats and provide the best protection for the insured.” Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

Southeast Asia stays underinsured, leaning on savings and state aid The Philippines is increasing its insurance buffer against climate-related shocks, with higher penetration, rising property premiums, and a broader mix of catastrophe risk solutions emerging as severe weather events affect Asia. Insurance penetration trends amid regional catastrophe activity According to Aon ’s report, cited by Manila Bulletin , insurance penetration in the Philippines reached 1.85% in the third quarter of 2025 (Q3 2025), up from 1.74% in the same period of 2024. The metric, calculated as total insurance premiums as a share of gross domestic product, shows a modest increase in formal risk transfer in the economy. Non-life business accounted for 1.1 percentage points of this penetration, indicating higher take-up of cover for property, motor, and catastrophe exposures. According to Aon, non-life premiums in the Philippines rose 13% year over year to more than US$1 billion in the third quarter of 2025, compared with US$906.5 million a year earlier. The shift in coverage occurred alongside a series of storms across Southeast Asia. Between June and August 2025, Tropical Storm Crising and Typhoons Betty, Isang, and Emong affected the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. The events caused more than 150 deaths, damaged over 200,000 homes, and destroyed around 480,000 acres of crops, with estimated economic losses of up to US$3 billion. From late September through November, Typhoons Opong, Nando, Paolo, Tino, and Uwan again struck the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand, leading to more than 500 additional fatalities and losses exceeding US$5 billion. Globally, Aon estimated economic losses of US$260 billion in 2025, about 23% below the 21st-century average and the lowest annual figure since 2015. Insured losses reached US$127 billion, around 27% above the long-term average, suggesting that a larger share of aggregate losses was covered by insurance and contributing to a global protection gap that narrowed to about 51%. More than half of global economic losses were recorded in the US, followed by Asia-Pacific, then Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and the rest of the Americas. Protection gap in Southeast Asia remains high Despite increased insurance penetration, Aon’s analysis indicates that Southeast Asia remains significantly underinsured relative to its natural catastrophe exposure. The region continues to rely heavily on self-funding and public resources for post-disaster recovery. Since 2000, only about 12% of economic losses from floods and tropical cyclones in Southeast Asia have been insured, leaving an estimated 88% protection gap. This reflects uninsured or underinsured exposures across households, commercial property, infrastructure, and public assets. The Philippines illustrates these conditions. The country is exposed to frequent typhoons, floods, landslides, and storm surges, and recent years have seen shorter intervals between major events. On Nov. 9, 2025, super-typhoon Fung-Wong made landfall in the Philippines, bringing flash floods, storm surges, landslides, and strong winds only days after Typhoon Tino. The Department of Agriculture estimated that Fung-Wong caused around PHP968 million (US$16.8 million) in damage to the agriculture sector. National meteorological records indicate that the number of super-typhoons affecting the country has more than doubled over the past two decades, while World Bank data puts average storm-related damage at about US$3.5 billion a year. Property insurance outlook within general insurance growth Data and analytics firm GlobalData expects recurring natural catastrophes to influence medium-term demand for property insurance in the Philippines and to shape risk appetite and strategy for insurers, reinsurers, and policymakers. Property insurance is projected to remain a major class within the Philippine general insurance market. GlobalData forecasts that property claims will account for 22.7% of total general insurance claims in 2026, reaching PHP6.4 billion (US$110.9 million). The firm notes that actual claims could exceed projections as loss experience from super-typhoon Fung-Wong and other 2025 events becomes fully known. On the premium side, GlobalData’s Global Insurance Database projects that property gross written premium will grow at a compound annual rate of 11.5% between 2026 and 2030, rising from PHP66.9 billion (US$1.2 billion) in 2026 to PHP103.3 billion (US$1.8 billion) by 2030. “The global climate crisis is contributing to the increased intensity and frequency of tropical storms and typhoons. Despite rising catastrophe related losses, the Philippine property insurance market is expected to expand steadily. It is expected to remain profitable, with the loss ratio projected to remain well below 50% during the 2026–30 period,” said Manogna Vangari, insurance analyst at GlobalData. At the broader market level, GlobalData projects that Philippine general insurance gross written premium will rise from PHP153.8 billion (US$2.7 billion) in 2025 to PHP229.7 billion (US$3.9 billion) by 2029, equivalent to a 10.6% compound annual growth rate. Property insurance is expected to represent nearly 40% of general insurance premiums in 2025. Role of infrastructure, mortgages, and microinsurance in distribution Infrastructure projects and housing finance are acting as channels for additional insurance penetration. In March 2025, a PHP149.5 million (US$2.6 million) flood-control project in Liloan, Cebu, was approved with a requirement for contractors to obtain all-risk insurance, incorporating risk-transfer conditions into climate-exposed public works. Mortgage-related covers are also contributing to property insurance use. “Private mortgage protection is accelerating in the island nation. In August 2025, Pag-IBIG Fund launched housing loan insurance claims for typhoon-damaged homes in Pangasinan, ensuring a five-day processing window and allowing claims without a formal calamity declaration. This operational model reduces recovery delays and illustrates how property insurance can cushion household balance sheets following severe weather events, strengthening consumer confidence in the industry,” Vangari said. Microinsurance is being used to provide catastrophe cover to lower-income and underserved groups. Domestic providers offer low-cost products covering perils such as fire, typhoon, flood, and earthquake, typically with benefits of up to PHP20,000 (US$346.68) for annual premiums starting at around PHP250 (US$4.33). These policies are aimed at segments that often face high exposure to severe weather and have limited financial buffers. Parametric and agricultural solutions in disaster risk management At the sovereign level, the Philippines has put in place catastrophe risk-transfer arrangements with World Bank support, including parametric and catastrophe insurance mechanisms intended to provide quicker post-disaster funding. Under parametric covers, payouts are triggered when agreed thresholds – such as wind speed or rainfall levels – are reached, rather than after traditional claims adjustment. Despite these measures, the World Risk Index estimates the country’s catastrophe protection gap at about 98%, compared with a global average of 58%, indicating extensive uninsured and underinsured exposure across sectors. In agriculture, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation is working with local governments to extend crop cover and accelerate claims processing. The institution is using satellite mapping tools to support faster assessment and settlement for farmers affected by weather-related losses. For insurers and reinsurers across Asia, developments in the Philippines provide a case study of how a highly exposed market is using a combination of traditional indemnity policies, microinsurance, mortgage-linked products, and parametric solutions to address climate-related risk and the long-standing catastrophe protection gap. Source: www.insurancebusinessmag.com

Nearly 3m Filipino farmers and fishers are expected to benefit from expanded government-backed insurance coverage following a significant budget increase, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said. Under the 2026 General Appropriations Act, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp (PCIC) received a PHP6.5bn ($115.8m) allocation, representing a 45% increase from PHP4.5bn in 2025, reported Philippine News Agency. The expanded budget will allow PCIC to insure around 2.93m farmers and fishers, up nearly 25% from the 2.35m food producers covered last year. The DA said the additional funding will enable higher insurance coverage for rice and corn, as well as broader nationwide access to its free insurance programme. The maximum indemnity for total crop loss for rice and corn has been increased to PHP25,000 per hectare, up from PHP20,000 previously. PCIC’s multi-peril insurance covers losses caused by natural disasters, pests and diseases. Insurance coverage also extends to high-value crops, fisheries and aquaculture, livestock and non-crop agricultural assets. Registered coconut farmers under the National Coconut Farmers Registry System will also be included. About 714,000 coconut farmers are expected to be insured this year, supported by a PHP500m allocation from the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund, compared with 640,000 farmers covered in 2025. Eligibility for government-subsidised insurance requires farmers and fishers to be listed in the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture. For 2026, the total number of subsidised and non-subsidised insured farmers and fishers is projected to reach 3.68m, up 12% from 3.29m last year. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), the state insurer of the Philippines, has reported paying more than PHP300bn ($5.07bn) in benefit claims across the country in 2025. According to reports from state-owned media, PhilHealth disbursed PHP300.45bn, with PHP177.7bn allocated to private health facilities and PHP122.75bn to government hospitals between January and December 2025. The figure represents an 81.72% increase compared with 2024, when total benefit payments amounted to PHP165.34bn. Of that amount, PHP74.02bn went to private facilities, while PHP91.32bn was directed to government hospitals. PhilHealth said that the substantial increase underscores its ongoing commitment to promptly settling benefit claims and strengthening financial risk protection for its members. Source: www.asiainsurancereview.com