INSURANCE Commissioner Dennis B. Funa was reelected as the chairman of the management board of Asian Reinsurance Corporation (Asian Re).
Funa is set to serve a fresh new two-year term of office from 2021 until 2023 following his reelection on June 10, the Insurance Commission said in a statement.
“I am deeply honored to have been reelected as Chairperson of Asian Re. The trust and confidence reposed upon me by the Council of Members have been truly overwhelming and inspiring. I look forward to working closely with the other members of the Council in realizing Asian Re’s objectives,” said Commissioner Funa.
Prior to his reelection, Funa had been serving his first term of office as chairman of Asian Re’s management board since June 28, 2019. He has also previously served as vice chairman with a two-year term which ended in 2019.
Established in 1979, Asian Re is an intergovernmental organization owned today by 10 governments comprising the Council of Members, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Iran, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines. The organization is headquartered in Bangkok and it aims to be the leading professional reinsurer in Asia-Pacific region.
Its affairs are run by a management board consisting of the chairman and vice chairman representing the Council of Members, as well as the president and executive vice president of Asian Re. The management board meets every quarter, or at least three times a year.
Former Philippine Insurance Commissioner Gregoria Cruz Arnaldo was the first chairperson of Asian Re, who served for two terms: from May 28, 1979 until September 22, 1981, and from September 23, 1983 until May 26, 1985.
The concept of a regional reinsurer was developed gradually starting 1972 during the third session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
In 1974, 18 members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap) agreed in principle to establish a regional reinsurance institution.
A draft intergovernmental agreement was written in 1976 and in 1977 it was signed by seven countries. The Philippines signed the agreement creating Asian Re on September 30, 1977.
The inaugural meeting of the Council of Members was held in May 1979.
Following the Philippines’s signing of the Agreement in 1977, President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1270 establishing the National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines, which was authorized to subscribe to the portion of the capital stock of Asian Re allotted to the Philippines. The Philippine Insurance Commissioner was also designated as the representative to the Asian Re Council of Members pursuant to Section 3 of PD No. 1270.
As of 31 December 2019, Asian Re has shareholder equity of US$69,755,581. The 10 regular members of the Council have varying equity holdings, the largest of which are those of Iran and Thailand. The Philippine equity in Asian Re is presently at US$500,000.
In May this year, A.M. Best, a US-based credit rating agency that focuses on the insurance industry, affirmed Asian Re’s Financial Strength Rating of “B+” (Good).