Philippine Insurance Commission chief Reynaldo Regalado called on both the life and non-life insurance sectors to tap into new technologies to ensure that more Filipinos get access to insurance protection and coverage.
Regalado said that new technologies will be essential in making insurance more accessible to citizens in the country, and that the sector itself plays an important role in the country’s economic growth as the world at large faces risks brought by climate change.
“As a proven risk and loss transfer mechanism, insurance plays a critical role in improving our resilience against extreme weather events and other natural calamities that are worsening due to climate change,” Regalado said in a report from The Philippine Star.
Insurance coverage and penetration in the country is lower compared to its neighbours. Insurance penetration for the Philippines remains at around 2% of the gross domestic product.
Regalado said that the call for the insurance sector resonates with the government’s continued push for digitalisation and financial inclusion.
“We need to provide wider and more inclusive insurance coverage, taking advantage of new technologies to make financial products more accessible, innovative and efficient,” Regalado said.
Thanks to its unique location in Southeast Asia, the Philippines is a hotbed for expensive weather events, with the World Bank estimating $3.5 billion in asset losses every year. The country’s finance secretary recently revealed that the government is preparing an insurance plan to shield the nation from infrastructure losses, with the proposed program costing around $37 million.
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