The Philippines is now in a good position to encourage better reinsurance cooperation among various national reinsurers in Asia, following the recent election of Insurance Commission (IC) chief Dennis Funa as chairman of the Asian Reinsurance Corp. (Asian Re), which is a professional insurer operating in 10 countries, including the Philippines.
Funa is the second Filipino to be installed in this leadership post by its 10 member-states, said the IC in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
“As Chairman of Asian Re, we shall have the opportunity to lead the Corporation to greater heights, and moreover, we will be in a good position to encourage better reinsurance cooperation among various national reinsurers, which will effectively spread insurers’ industry risks, particularly catastrophe risks, and allow them to further diversify their portfolio–a win-win for everyone involved,” Funa said.
Funa was elected last June 28 at the Asian Re’s headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand for a two-year term, with re-election.
He replaced Abdolnaser Hemmati, who had been appointed governor of the Central Bank of Iran.
Established in 1979, Asian Re was first chaired by a Filipino—then-IC Commissioner Gregoria Cruz Arnaldo, who chaired the intergovernmental organization from 1979 to 1981 and was reelected to serve until 1983.
Besides the Philippines, the organization has 9 other member-states from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), namely: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Iran, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Funa said the 10 regular members have varying equity holdings in Asian Re, with Iran and Thailand contributing the largest sums. The Philippines’ equity is at $500,000 infused originally in 1977, he said.
Asian Re has a current net worth of around $100 million.
It received a “B Plus” (Good) rating with a “stable” outlook last April 2019 from A.M. Best, a US-based credit rating agency that focuses on the insurance industry. Asian Re’s long-term issuer credit rating is “BBB minus.”
Asian Re operates as a professional reinsurer accepting business from the insurance markets in member-states as well as other markets of the region and elsewhere.
It also provides technical assistance to the national markets of its member-states and invests a sizeable proportion of its funds within the region, provided that such investments meet with the requirements of sound insurance techniques.
Asian Re also serves as a regional center for the collection of insurance information and the development of expertise in insurance and reinsurance, to be put at the disposal of the national insurance markets of the member-states.
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