Manchester, UK, 21 May 2018: A unique report on mutual and cooperative microinsurance in the Philippines has been published today by the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) and Microinsurance MBA Association of the Philippines, Inc (also known as RIMANSI).

The report, entitled Mutual and Cooperative Microinsurance in the Philippines: A Landscape Study, was conducted as part of the ICMIF 5-5-5 Mutual Microinsurance Strategy. The 5-5-5 Strategy aims to provide mutual microinsurance solutions to 5 million low-income households, in five emerging markets over the next five years. The Philippines is one of the five selected countries (along with Colombia, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka), and this country diagnostic study highlights the potential role that mutual microinsurance can play in closing the protection gap in the Philippines.

The report shows that two types of mutual microinsurance organisation exist in the Philippines: the cooperative insurance societies (CIS) which primarily have an institutional membership; and microinsurance mutual benefit associations (Mi-MBAs) which are not-for-profit organisations with low-income individuals as members. Of the 77% microinsurance market share covered by mutual microinsurance, Mi-MBAs comprise around 51% and CISs comprise around 26%.

The Philippine microinsurance sector has grown rapidly ever since the local Insurance Commission introduced new regulations in 2006 for Mi-MBAs. The results of the ICMIF study state that microinsurance coverage expanded from a mere 3.1 million before 2008 to 31.1 million by the end of 2014, and the market is estimated to expand to 16.3 million households (73.3 million Filipinos) by 2020.

Further findings from the report demonstrate some of the features unique to mutual and cooperative microinsurers. Results show that Mi-MBA policyholders have an important role in governance and management of the organisation (60% of the responses state that the members are involved in the claims approval and settlement process). There was also a high prevalence amongst Mi-MBAs and CISs of offering value-added services, for example 60% of Mi-MBAs and 100% of CISs offered financial literacy training to potential and existing policyholders. Furthermore, 90% of member policyholders of Mi-MBAs were women according to data compiled by RIMANSI. The findings also showed that Mi-MBAs settled an impressive 88% of claims within 10 days.

Jun Jay Perez, Executive Director, RIMANSI said: “We are delighted to be able to publish the findings of this report, which highlight the positive outlook for the mutual microinsurance sector in the Philippines. In response, we are pleased to work with the ICMIF Foundation to develop the capacity of the MBA sector. We have already successfully reached out to over 4 million individuals who were previously unprotected with microinsurance as a result of our partnership through the 5-5-5 Strategy.”

The full report and highlights of the study are publicly available for download.

ENDS

For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Sabbir Patel, Senior Vice-President, Emerging Markets, ICMIF, [email protected] +44 161 952 5059

About ICMIF (see www.icmif555.org)

• ICMIF holds nine years’ worth of exclusive data about the mutual sector
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