Microinsurance

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USAID and RBAP Receive BSP Financial Inclusion Partner Award

At the 2012 Awards Ceremony and Appreciation Lunch for stakeholders on July 4, 2012, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) presented the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) the Financial Inclusion Partner Award for the implementation of the USAID-supported RBAP-Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) Program. BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. and members of the Monetary Board hosted the event that was attended by several BSP partner institutions from the National Capital Region (NCR). This annual event is held by the BSP to recognize the significant contribution of partner institutions and to honor those who have exhibited sustained support considered to be above par with respect to their contemporaries.

The Financial Inclusion Partner Award recognizes the 15-year partnership between the USAID and RBAP, which has provided vital contribution to the BSP’s work in financial inclusion, policy development, capacity building,

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Latest UpdatesMicroinsurance

2012 RBAP-MABS Microfinance Conference and Awards Ceremony

Over 200 rural bankers and other participants throughout the Philippines attended the 2012 National Roundtable Conference organized by the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) – Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (MABS) Program. The two-day conference is a gathering of all RBAP-MABS participating banks to share and exchange experiences on microfinance operations, new developments in the field, and marks the Programs’ 15th anniversary. The United States Chargé d’Affaires, Ms. Leslie Bassett, opened the 15th year anniversary of RBAP-MABS and Awards Dinner along with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board Member Ignacio Bunye.

The MABS Program, now on its 15th year, was developed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with RBAP.  The Program is overseen by the Office of the President through the Mindanao Development Authority.  The Program works with rural banks to develop their capacity to profitably provide financial services – microloans, microdeposits, microinsurance, …

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Rural Banks Transforming Microinsurance from Service to Business

The Microinsurance Initiative of the RBAP-MABS Program began in May 2008. Since then, the Initiative has progressed and assisted 192 rural banks towards becoming responsible and legitimate agents of properly regulated and sustainable microinsurance products and services. They began assisting online stores and casinos in their banking day to day operations, which has proven quite lucrative for them. One big brand they are managing is ToutSansDepot which is a website that gives players bonuses and is very popular among the community.

Three rural banks shared their experiences during the 2012 RBAP-MABS National Roundtable Conference held at the Hyatt Hotel in Manila. Rural bank representatives Atty. Francis Ganzon (Bangko Kabayan), Mr. Zaldy Pacificar (Katipunan Bank) and Mr. Gilbert Soliven (Progressive Bank) shared their bank’s experiences offering microinsurance and the important lessons they learned for building a sustainable business case for  the bank.

Setting the tone for the Session was Chemonics International’s …

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Latest UpdatesMicroinsurance

Banks Now Serve 1 Million Active Micro-Borrowers

Opening the 2012 National Roundtable Conference of the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines – Microenterprise Access to Banking Services Program (RBAP-MABS) on June 7, 2012, Ms. Chuchi Fonacier, Managing Director of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), cited a set of impressive statistics on how banks in the Philippines have now expanded access to microfinance services.

In her keynote address before the participants of the conference, she cited BSP data on the lending side: 190 banks with microfinance operations are reaching about one million active borrowers with an outstanding loan portfolio of PhP 7.2 billion (US$170 million). In addition to micro-loans, the BSP has been actively expanding the definition of microfinance to encourage banks to offer a broader range of inclusive financial services in the countryside.

Taking advantage of the regulations, twenty-two (22) banks have introduced micro-agri loan products to their clients; twenty-four (24) banks are offering housing microfinance; while …

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In the NewsMicroinsuranceMicroinsurance Success StoriesPress Releases

Prudential notes increase in 2011 microinsurance claims

THE Philippine Prudential Insurance Co. Inc. has reported paying more than P22 million worth of claims in 2011, a substantial increase compared to 2010 when payouts totaled only P2.49 million.

Company officials said this indicated a renewed and more vigorous pursuit of a program championed by then Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Rafael Carlos Buenaventura, who made it his personal advocacy project very early in his term.

Like Buenaventura, Philippine Prudential engaged in the business of providing protection to ordinary Filipinos at the retail end of the business long before the program gained prominence as a viable source of sustainable revenues for the various insurers.

“We have been pioneering the field of microinsurance in the Philippines as a way to make insurance coverage and protection more accessible to everyone,” Philippine Prudential President and CEO Gregorio D. Mercado said.

“We’ve had success in going beyond the standard insurance plans and creating …

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Latest UpdatesMicroinsurance

TOP FIVE tips to build a successful microinsurance partnership

Microinsurance Innovation Facility – Highlights on the recently conducted webinar on Managing Partnerships in Microinsurance:

  1. A successful partnership requires a clear understanding of the business problem that a distribution partner has and how insurance is going to fix it. Financial incentives such as commissions may not be sufficient (see Emerging Insights #32). Will insurance help partners manage internal risk, attract new customers, or retain existing customers?
  2. An alignment of vision and interest is critical.  An assessment questionnaire or a third-party facilitator can help partners have a genuine dialogue and identify potential issues upfront.
  3. Trust and commitment are crucial and are required from both the executive and operational teams. Working through issues and challenges together is a necessary part of developing trust and commitment.
  4. Clear expectations of what the partnership can achieve are needed. Developing a joint business plan helps. The business plan need not be comprehensive, but it should
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Latest UpdatesMicroinsurance

Why reinvent the wheel? Use existing tools that work

Microinsurance Innovation Facility – As more institutions enter microinsurance, it is efficient to make use of existing tools that work, in order to minimize the resources needed to develop successful tools. An encouraging example comes from Seguros Futuro.

When Seguros Futuro wanted to expand its education efforts it decided to incorporate insurance education in the annual general assemblies of its cooperatives. Instead of designing a new educational game, Seguros Futuro adapted an existing game called Treasure Pot, developed by the Micro Insurance Academy, which had already been tried and tested in different countries.

In Seguros Futuros’ adapted game, each participant receives ten candies and draws a card that represents an emergency or good fortune. In the first round, participants who draw an emergency card must pay the indicated number of candies, and participants who draw a good fortune card retain their candies. In the second round, participants have the option …

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Latest UpdatesMicroinsurance

RBAP-MABS Microinsurance Partners Recognized at Gabi ng Parangal

To culminate Microinsurance Month, the Insurance Commission spearheaded an awarding ceremony themed “Gabi ng Parangal at Pasasalamat sa mga Tagapagtaguyod ng Microinsurance” to recognize organizations promoting microinsurance in the country. The awarding ceremony was held on January 31 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Four partner insurance providers and two participating banks of the United States Agency for International Development-supported Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines-Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) Program were among those recognized during the ceremony. Country Bankers Life Insurance Corporation, Mapfre Insular, Pioneer Insurance, and Philippine Prudential Life Inc., were cited as outstanding life and non-life commercial companies while the Rural Bank of Talisayan and Katipunan Bank were recognized for their mutual benefit associations.

Since 2008, RBAP-MABS has been collaborating with rural banks and the regulatory institutions to improve access to insurance options of low-income households. To do this, RBAP-MABS works with the insurance-providers …

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Latest UpdatesMicroinsurance

RBAP-MABS Participates in the Microinsurance Advocacy Training

In celebration of Microinsurance Month, a three-day Training on Microinsurance Advocacy (TOMA) was held in Tagaytay City from January 18-20. The Microinsurance Teams of the United States Agency for International Development-supported Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines-Microenterprise Access to Banking Services (RBAP-MABS) and RBAP-Rural Bankers Research Development Foundation Inc. participated.  The event was the third in a series of workshops under the Financial Literacy Roadshow on Microinsurance Advocacy that will be conducted in sixteen (16) regions of the country. Collaborators include German International Cooperation-Microinsurance Innovations Program for Social Security (GIZ-MIPSS), Insurance Commission, National Credit Council (NCC) of the Department of Finance (DOF) and Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction Program of the Asian Development Bank.

The event sought to enhance the knowledge and skills of participants to become advocates of microinsurance in the Philippines. Thirty-eight (38) individuals from various national government agencies, intermediaries, donor agencies, support institutions, local government units and …

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MABS HighlightsMicroinsurance

More Rural Banks Complete Microinsurance Training Course

Eighteen rural banks based in Luzon and Mindanao recently completed the Rural Bankers Association of the Philippines (RBAP) Basic Microinsurance Training during two separate sessions. Twenty-nine (29) bank officers and staff from ten (10) rural bank-members of the Cagayan-Kalinga Federation attended the training held in Cooperative Bank, Tuguegarao City, on November 24-25 while eleven (11) bank officers and staff from eight (8) rural banks participated in the course held on December 7-8 in Manila. Altogether, one hundred and sixty (160) rural banks have been trained under the RBAP Basic Microinsurance Training course since January 2011.

The two-day training covers the fundamental concepts and principles of microinsurance through lecture, group exercises and simulation activities. More importantly, participants are guided on the procedures and requirements of the Insurance Company and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for Microinsurance Agent licensing.

The course is part of the activities of the Rural Bankers Association of …

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