Four insurance companies in the Philippines are facing imminent closure for failure to meet the capitalisation requirement of PHP900 million (US$18.5 million) imposed by the country’s insurance regulator.

In a report by the Inquirer, Insurance Commission chief Dennis Funa said that out of the six companies that were granted a temporary reprieve in March amid the COVID-19 pandemic, two were able to come up with the required capital.

This leaves four companies that have yet to meet the requirement, and Funa said that they only have “a few days” to gather the amount stated in the Amended Insurance Code. If they fail to comply, they will be served closure orders. Funa did not identify any of the companies.

The six firms were already working with the regulator to meet the capital requirements when the country went into lockdown in mid-March, prompting the Insurance Commission to give them more time.

In light of the pandemic, the IC is looking at the possibility of requesting an amendment to the country’s insurance legislation, in order to postpone the next round of insurance capital requirement increases until end-2022.