Reynaldo A. de Dios | Risk and Insurance Management Consultant
The answer is probably in the affirmative.
Republic Act 10607, or the Amended Insurance Code of the Philippines requires existing insurance companies to have a paid up capital of P550 million by December 2016, P900 million by 2019 and 1.3 billion by December 2022. As many of the Philippine owned insurance firms had a difficult time in meeting the first capital requirement in December 2016 under the Amended Insurance Code, seven Philippine nonlife insurers have voluntarily given up their license to operate and four Philippine nonlife insurers have had to merge in order to comply with the P550-million capital in December 2017.
In response to the petition from several nonlife insurers, the Insurance Commission undertook a study of the net worth capitalization system within the Asean region.
On initial finding s, it appears that the Philippines would have the highest net worth requiretRecognizing the plight of the majority of the Philippine owned insurers, the Insurance Commission is planning to introduce legislation to amend the present Insurance Code and they are working on a draft bill to implement this change within the year 2019. This is a clear indication that the Insurance Commission recognizes the plight of the Philippine owned Non-Life Insurers and for this, it should be commended for their plan of action to remedy the present situation.
As of 29th June 2017, there are 4 Composite Insurers, 27 Life Insurers, 60 Non-Life Insurers and 1 Professional Reinsurer composing the Philippine Insurance Market.