THE National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines (PhilNaRe) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore-based ACR Capital Holdings Pte. Ltd. for the exchange of technical expertise in expanding its business, as well as to discuss possible investment in the local reinsurer.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PhilNaRe said ACR will help it build its book of Asian business and provide expertise in commercial risks in underwriting.

“PhilNaRe entered into a memorandum of understanding dated June 5, 2008, with ACR Capital Holdings Pte. Ltd. for a potential long-term strategic partnership to build PhilNaRe’s book of Asian business, as well as a domestic catastrophe pool in the country and provide technical expertise to PhilNaRe in the area of large commercial-risks underwriting on a facultative basis,” the firm said.

“[ACR will] develop an IT [information technology] system that will enhance PhilNaRe’s operational efficiency and explore the possibility of ACR investing in PhilNaRe, subject to further discussion and negotiations between the parties,” the firm said.

In 2007 the firm posted a 121-percent increase in net income to P609 million from P275 million a year earlier.

It attributed the increase to higher profits from underwriting and investment operations, as well as a reduction in general and administrative expenses.

The firm listed in April 2007 with major shareholders that include the Government Service Insurance System, Bank of the Philippine Islands and the Malayan group of insurance companies.

PhilNaRe is a professional reinsurance company providing life and non-life reinsurance to the Philippine and neighboring Asian markets.

For the first quarter of 2008, weak investment environment put a dent in its first-quarter profit as it reported a 37-percent drop in net income to P110 million from P174 million a year earlier.

It said the decline came though underwriting income surged 189 percent from January to March this year.

“The strong performance of the company’s reinsurance operations was not enough to offset lackluster results from investment operations,” senior vice president and chief finance officer John Huang said.

INFLATION, the rise in prices of goods and services and the corresponding drop in a currency’s purchasing power, will likely hit double digit this month to an average of between 10 percent and 11 percent as food and oil prices continue to move higher, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said on Friday.

THE peso breached the P43 level to close at P44.135 per dollar on Friday as investors continued to shun the local currency on concerns about inflation, currency traders said.

MALACAŃANG on Sunday expressed confidence in the “calibrated response” taken by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Amado Tetangco Jr. to fight inflation which rose to 9.6 percent last April.

THE National Reinsurance Corp. of the Philippines (PhilNaRe) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Singapore-based ACR Capital Holdings Pte. Ltd. for the exchange of technical expertise in expanding its business, as well as to discuss possible investment in the local reinsurer.