Creditable Withholding Taxes as admitted assets
Under Circular Letter 2020-89 (Guidelines in the Treatment of Creditable Withholding Taxes), September 3, 2020, CWT may be…
The brokers’ influence among insurers
Brokers are indispensable partners of insurance companies. They bring business in a very competitive market. Brokers do not…
Aon acquisition of Willis Towers Watson
Irish-domiciled insurance broker Aon Plc will be acquiring an also Irish-domiciled insurance broker Willis Towers Watson Plc. (Willis)…
Risks in variable life insurance
Variable or unit-linked life insurance is subject to risks which the policyholder alone must bear. The performance of…
AXA’s Global Health Access
AXA Insurance’s Global Health Access (GHA) is a yearly renewable health product with HMO-like features. It was launched…
Philippine Machinery Management Services Corporation
The Philippine Machinery Management Services Corp. (PMMSC) or also known as ‘the “MacPool”) is an insurance pool that…
The GeoRisk Philippines initiative
GeoRisk Philippines is a government-led multi-agency initiative to serve as the central resource of information on natural hazards…
Extended warranty is insurance
When a consumer buys a product, it usually comes with a manufacturer’s or retailer’s warranty which is a…
Directors and Officers Liability Insurance
Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (D&O) is a liability insurance that covers “individual directors and officers (D&Os), for…
Mobile digital health and insurance
IT was not a long time ago when the term “life insurance” would be associated with death. The…
Mutual microinsurance as instruments of sustainable development
A study was published by the University of Cambridge—Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) in June 2019 on the…
Digital currency distinguished from virtual currency
IN Circular Letter 2020-70, the Insurance Commission encouraged the use of digital payments in insurance transactions. But how…
2nd National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering
The Philippines has undertaken the 2nd National Risk Assessment on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (TF) for the…
Response of health insurers to the Covid-19 pandemic
The Insurance Commission conducted a survey on health insurers to determine their overall response to the Covid-19 pandemic.…
Regulatory sandbox for the insurance industry
The Insurance Commission will soon be issuing a framework for the adoption of regulatory sandbox in the Philippines.…
Green finance and the insurance industry
The insurance industry is one of the leading investors in green bonds in the country. Climate change challenge…
Digital payments in the Philippines
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has recognized digital payments as a policy priority. It has advocated the…
Insurance Commission: ‘Charting new frontiers’
(Speech delivered by Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa at the Insurance Commission’s 71st anniversary celebrations on January 28,…
Insurtech innovations of Philippine insurers
Insurtech (insurance technology) innovation is happening almost imperceptibly in the Philippines, and in numerous steps by different companies.…
A short history of variable contracts
Variable contracts or investment-linked insurance products is regulated by Sections 238 to 246 of the Amended Insurance Code.…
Solving the problem of unclaimed life insurance benefits
Every year, around the world, including the Philippines, billions of dollars in life insurance benefits are left unclaimed…
Dissolution of Ficco Mutual Benefit Association Inc.
FICCO Mutual Benefit Association (MBA) was based in Cagayan de Oro City. It was organized by members of…
Living benefits of life insurance
While life insurance usually looks forward to giving insurance benefits to beneficiaries upon the death of the insured,…
The salvage business of insurance
The salvage business in non-life insurance is what we might call the tail-end of the insurance cycle. Salvage…
Types of life insurance: Term life vs whole life
There are two types of life insurance in the Philippines: Term life insurance and permanent life insurance. Permanent…
Annuities as retirement income
Sections 181 and 182 of the Amended Insurance Code provide that contracts of annuities shall be considered a…
Retention limits
A nonlife insurer may either retain the risks that it takes on or cede a portion of such…
Cancer insurance
According to the Philippine Cancer Society, in 2012, at least 13 out of 100 males and 14 out…
Critical illness insurance
LIFE expectancy has increased around the world, and the top causes of death have declined by 54 percent…
Private health insurance coverage in the Philippines
Both life and nonlife insurers can issue health insurance policies. Together with the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) industry,…
The health insurance gap in the Philippines
Health expenses continue to grow every year. It is estimated that this expense will grow at an average…
Life and health insurance for persons with HIV/AIDS
There are now two landmark legislations providing for parameters on insurance for persons living with human immunodeficiency virus…
Can corporate ratings be higher than the sovereign credit ratings?
A sovereign credit rating is defined as “an independent assessment of the creditworthiness of a country or sovereign…
Determining the Premium Liabilities
Every nonlife insurance company and reinsurance company supervised by the Insurance Commission is required to maintain reserves for…
Compliance with the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard
In an Advisory dated May 3, 2013, and Circular Letter (CL) 14-2013 dated July 1, 2013, Insurance Commissioner…
Financial Inclusion: Promoting insurance among women
The International Finance Corp. of the World Bank Group has launched an advocacy program to promote insurance among…
Asean Marine, Aviation and Goods in Transit insurance
Asean insurers offering cross-border Marine, Aviation and Goods in Transit (MAT) insurance have been identified as servicing one…
A search for a supervisory framework: The risk-based supervision
The Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) of the US Department of Treasury, in a project that started in…
Philippine Financial Reporting Standard 4
THE current Philippine insurance accounting standard is the Philippine Financial Reporting Standard (PFRS) 4, which was adopted from…
Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association of the Philippines: An MBA profile
One of the leading mutual benefit associations (MBAs) in the country is the Knights of Columbus Fraternal Association…
Understanding insurance accounting
According to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, “accounting is the art of recording, classifying and summarizing…
Continuing bonds
A continuing bond, also called continuous bond, is a financial guarantee or a suretyship that renews automatically until…
PFRS 9
The Philippine Financial Reporting Standard 9 (Financial Instruments) is the local adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard 9…
Tax implication of change in reserving methodology
Section 216 of the Amended Insurance Code (Republic Act 10607) changed the methodology in the valuation of life-…
Firearms bond
Under Republic Act 10591, otherwise known as the “Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act”, there are generally two…
Annual Premium Equivalent: Measuring the industry’s new business
Comparing the sales performance of insurers would have been simpler if there were only one premium payment method.…
Financial Sector Assessment Program
The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is a joint initiative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the…
Jumbo risks
Jumbo risk is an insurance policy with very high limits of insurance, either a large property line or…
MBAs distinguished from SLAs
Mutual Benefit Associations (MBAs) need to be distinguished from Savings and Loan Associations (SLAs). Under Republic Act (RA)…
Protection and Indemnity Insurance
There are three basic types of marine insurance: a) Hull and Machinery; b) Cargo; and c) Protection and…
Securities borrowing and lending for the insurance industry
THE Insurance Commission issued Circular Letter (CL) 2014-31 on July 8, 2014, providing for the Guidelines for Securities Borrowing…
Catastrophe and Risk Management in Asean
The Asean Insurance Council, through its Asean Natural Disaster Research Works and Sharing Committee, established the Catastrophe and…
Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility
On May 5, 2017, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia, Ministry of Finance of Lao PDR,…
Aviation insurance
The first cross-country flight in the Philippines was made on February 27, 1911, when Captain Thomas Baldwin flew…
Financial Reporting Framework
Section 189 of the Amended Insurance Code defines Financial Reporting Framework as “a set of accounting and reporting principles,…
Philippine Accounting Standards
THERE are three standards-setting and interpretation organizations in the Philippines that recommend the standards, rules and interpretative pronouncements on…
Own Risk and Solvency Assessment
The Own Risk and Solvency Assessment is “an annual internal process undertaken by insurers to assess the adequacy…
The independence and accountability of the Insurance Commission
Insurance supervision is “the monitoring of insurance companies’ behavior, and intermediaries to a large extent, including their compliance…
Data aggregators for catastrophe insurance
Data is vital for catastrophe modeling, as well as for determining industry exposure and industry loss estimates. The…
Terrorism insurance
With two existing insurgencies, the Philippines is very much exposed to terrorism risks. Between 2007 and 2017, no…
Catastrophe modeling
IN 1992 Hurricane Andrew struck the United States. AIR, the pioneer in catastrophe modeling, projected an estimate loss…
Regulation of composite insurers
AN insurance company is classified as either a life insurance company or a nonlife insurance company. Some jurisdictions,…
Financial Stability Report
SINCE the global financial crisis of 2008, financial stability has become a permanent concern for economic managers across the…
Comprehensive motor insurance
While the Compulsory Third-Party Liability motor insurance is the basic and prerequisite insurance before a motor vehicle may…
Regulatory relief
Regulatory relief are measures effected by regulators to achieve administrative simplification or deregulation to reduce the burden of…
Profiling global agricultural insurance
The 2017 global agricultural insurance premiums total about $30 billion to $35 billion. Around 45 percent of this…
2017 Financial Inclusion Survey
The 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey is a national survey conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) every…
Salary loans as investments for insurers
Section 202 (j) of the Amended Insurance Code recognizes investments in salary loans as allowable and admitted assets…
Premiums receivable as admitted assets
Section 202 of the Amended Insurance Code enumerates the assets that may be allowed and admitted for insurance…
BJMP Mutual Benefit Association Inc.–an MBA profile
Among the mutual benefit associations (MBAs) regulated by the Insurance Commission is the Bureau of Jail Management and…
Derivatives as investments
Derivatives are one of the three main classes of financial instruments or securities, together with stocks (or equities)…
International Swaps and Derivatives Association
In 2015 the Insurance Commission recognized derivatives as an investment vehicle to promote investment diversification. This recognition is…
National Strategy for Financial Inclusion
The National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) was constituted on February 26, 2014, through a consultative process and…
Enforcing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in the Philippines
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) is a US legislation that is part of the 2010 Hiring…
Surety requirements in government procurement laws
THE Government Procurement Reform Act governs the procurement activities of the government. Under the law, various securities are…
Valuation of life insurance policy reserves
Life insurance policy reserves are the money an insurance company must set aside today to pay expected future…
Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes
One of the international participations of the Insurance Commission is the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information…
Solvency capital regime of the Philippines
The primary goal of any insurance solvency regime is “to secure the interests of policyholders. One of the key…
Life insurance proceeds and estate tax
Estate tax is a tax on the right of the deceased person to transmit his estate to his…
A review of the PPAI program
THE Passenger Personal Accident Insurance (PPAI) program, administered jointly by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Insurance…
Detariffication experience in Asia
Premium rates for motor and fire insurance are regulated or tariffied in several countries. In a tariffied regime,…
Data privacy and cyber security for insurance companies
The possible breach of data privacy and cyber security poses real risks for insurers and their policyholders. Looking…
InsurTech: Enhancing the agent-client interaction
Another technological development happening in the insurance industry is the manner by which insurance agents or financial advisors…
Corporate governance for insurance companies
Corporate governance has been defined as “the system of rules, practices and processes by which a company is…
Mobile insurance as distribution channel for microinsurance
The face of insurance marketing is being redrawn by digital technology. Mobile phone-based insurance, or simply mobile insurance, which…
Bond tariff in the Philippines
IN the United States the Surety Association of America was formed on November 12, 1908, with the view…
Fire tariff in the Philippines
Under Section 169 of the Insurance Code, the term “fire insurance” shall include insurance against loss by fire,…
World Bank’s Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Loan
The Washington, D.C.-based World Bank (WB) has extended to the Philippines a $500-million Disaster Risk Management Development Policy…
The Philippines’s disaster risk financing and insurance strategy
It is estimated that the country experiences a total of $3.5 billion in damages yearly due to typhoons…
Investments in income-producing real properties
“The investment of its funds is an integral part of the life insurance business and of equal importance…
The holding of foreclosed real properties by insurers
IN the United States insurance companies have become active lenders in the financing of commercial real estate. For…
JLT Re
JLT Re is the fourth-largest reinsurance broker in the world. It provides consultancy services, as well. It is…
Motor car insurance fraud
The motor car insurance fraud to be tackled here refers to those committed against insurance companies. Although there…
Taxes on life insurance in Asean
Let us take a look at the life-insurance tax regime in all the 10 Association of Southeast Asian…
Microinsurance MBA Association of the Philippines
The Microinsurance MBA Association of the Philippines Inc. (MiMAP), also known as Rimansi Organization for Asia and the…
Agricultural insurance in the Philippines
THE Philippines is the third-most disaster-prone country in the world, experiencing an average of 20 typhoons per year. As…
The insurance regulators of Asean
The Philippine insurance regulator is the only regulator within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that carries the…
American International Group Inc.
American International Group Inc. (AIG) is a leading global insurance company with more than 88 million customers in…
International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation
The International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) is the only international association dedicated to cooperative and mutual…
Marine surveyance
A marine surveyor is “a person who conducts inspections, surveys or examinations of marine vessels to assess, monitor…