THE Insurance Commission approved the license of SeaInsure Life Insurance Company Inc. (SeaLife) owned by a Singaporean insurance firm affiliated with e-commerce giant Shopee.
Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa issued SeaLife’s license on August 4, allowing it to transact business as a life insurance company in the Philippines.
SeaLife, previously Reliance Surety and Insurance Co. Inc., was acquired in February this year by SeaInsure PG Private Ltd. (SeaPG), a Singaporean insurance company under tech conglomerate Sea Ltd. that currently functions as the holding company for Shopee. RSI surrendered its license on July 26 this year as part of the approval process for the issuance of SeaLife’s license.
Since SeaPG’s acquisition of RSI, it was converted from a non-life insurance firm to a life insurance company.
The regulator approved the transfer of RSI’s non-life insurance portfolio to Sea Insure General Insurance Co Inc. (SeaGen), which undertook that all policies insured by RSI beyond the cut-off date, if any and any valid non-life insurance-related claims that may arise in the future, shall automatically be assumed by SeaGen.
SeaGen was earlier rebranded by SeaPG from its previous corporate name AA Guaranty Assurance Co. Inc. (AAGA) when it acquired the latter in February 2021. Consequently, SeaPG launched SeaGen as a digital non-life insurance company under License 2022/31-R issued by the Insurance Commission.
“The entry of Sea Limited, through SeaPG, to the local life and non-life insurance industries is a testament to foreign entities’ confidence in the Philippine insurance regulation,” Funa said.
To recall, the Insurance Commission found SeaPG’s acquisition of RSI to be compliant with regulatory frameworks.
Meanwhile, SeaPG parent company Sea Ltd. guaranteed provision of sufficient capital to SeaLife relative to its compliance with statutory net worth and solvency requirements.
Sea Ltd. is a Singaporean global consumer internet company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with three core businesses across digital entertainment, e-commerce and digital financial services. Its digital entertainment business, Garena, is a global game developer and publisher.
Its e-commerce business Shopee is the largest pan-regional e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan while SeaMoney, the digital financial services business of Sea Ltd., is a leading digital payments and financial services provider in Southeast Asia.