Asian insurers, regulators tackle microinsurance in Manila meet this week

MANILA, Philippines — Insurance regulators and industry players from the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam are scheduled to meet this week to discuss how to expand financial inclusion in the region through microinsurance.

According to a statement from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the meeting will take place on Jan.  23 to 24 in Makati City.

Topics that will be discussed by the participants include the use of technology to make insurance products more accessible, disaster risk insurance options for small and medium enterprises, and public-private cooperation.

 Inputs from the discussions will be used to formulate relevant policies in Asia and in member-countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

Insurance regulators and industry players in Asia comprise the Mutual Exchange Forum on Inclusive Insurance (MEFIN) Network, which is pursuing knowledge exchange to strengthen microinsurance regulation, supervision, and market expansion in the region as a means of reducing persistent poverty.

The German government, for its part, supports the network through the GIZ to promote inclusive growth for sustainable development.

GIZ program director Antonis Malagardis said the Philippines is an active member of the network and has shared with the group its good practices in spurring microinsurance growth in the country.

Malagardis said these practices are now being adopted in Indonesia and Nepal.

According to data from the Insurance Commission (IC), 32.03 million Filipinos were already covered by microinsurance policies as of end-September 2017. This represents a 21.66 percent growth than last year’s level.

Mutual benefit associations recorded the highest number of coverage, reaching 17.85 million individuals and dependents. The non-life insurance sector accounted for 5.18 million of the total, while the life insurance industry covered nine million.

IC data also showed microinsurance premium payments and contributions in the first nine months of the year grew 30 percent to P5.17 billion from P3.97 billion the same period in 2016.