Twenty-one (21) bank officers, managers and staff from sixteen (16) rural bank members of the Leyte-Samar-Biliran Federation completed the Microinsurance Basic Training Course conducted by USAID-supported Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines-Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) Program and Rural Bankers Research and Development Foundation Inc (RBRDFI) on July 29, 2011. The training course is an initial requirement for a rural bank’s application as Microinsurance Agent licensed by the Insurance Commission and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The course participants also successfully completed the qualifying examinations administered at the end of the course, which may qualify them as Microinsurance Soliciting Officers.
The Leyte-Samar-Biliran Federation, led by Federation President Rosario Ong Veloso, threw in their full support, making the course the most attended by rural banks since the course was launched in January 2011. This training brings to ninety (90) the total number of rural banks that have been trained in MI Basics, while 161 rural bank leaders, managers and staff have been successfully trained and qualified as Microinsurance Soliciting Officers.
As RBAP-MABS assists RBRDFI in completing the August 2011 series of Microinsurance Basic Training, a parallel effort is being made to involve key players in the industry to develop the Insurance Literacy Training Program for Rural Banks. This program aims to educate low-income clients on the value of microinsurance as well as their rights and responsibilities as end-users which, in turn, will create an educated market and sustainable demand for microinsurance.