MANILA—From June 5 to 7 of 2019, board, managers and staff of eight microinsurance MBAs attended the Governance and Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) Workshop (GAW) at the Manila Prince Hotel in Ermita, Manila. The Mi-MBAs who joined the GAW include ASKI MBA, CARD MBA, Kasagana-Ka MBA, KCCDFI MBA, KGI MBA, NSCC MBA, SEDP MBA and Serviamus MBA.
Newly elected board, managers and staff from Mi-MBAs are the main participants of the GAW. The Insurance Commission (IC) mandates that newly elected board members are to join trainings on governance and AMLA within six (6) months after the election. Thus, Microinsurance MBA Association of the Philippines (MiMAP also known as RIMANSI) conducts a three-day workshop, twice a year to enhance knowledge and understanding on governance, Anti-Money Laundering Act, and the regulatory compliance requirements especially to IC.
Participants of the Governance and AMLA workshop join to learn about matters of governance and the Anti-Money Laundering Act to better serve their respective Mi-MBAs and as part of compliance to the IC.
During the first day of the GAW, MiMAP (RIMANSI) Program Officer Hannah Marie Mejia presented a concise briefer on microinsurance. This was followed by a short discussion on Microinsurance Mutual Benefit Associations (Mi-MBAs) by Jun Jay E. Perez, MiMAP (RIMANSI) Executive Director.
Consequently, Dr. Pedro P. Benedicto, Jr., Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), began the workshop proper with an introduction to corporate governance. He covered governance concepts and principles, and the roles that the board must take in order to foster good governance. As such, the board must take into consideration the formation, operation, guidance and tools that will aid their respective associations propagate this.
Senior Insurance Specialist Lorena C. Barrera of the Insurance Commission-Life/MBAs/Trust Division, and Senior Insurance Specialist Wilma Conde of the Insurance Commission-Microinsurance Division, talked about Governance in SEGURO Indicators (Enhanced Performance Standards) and the IC Regulatory Compliance Requirements, respectively.
Afterward, Roberto Bascon Jr., Director-Corporate Governance (CG) Analytics at the ICD, ended the day by discussing the ACGS. In particular, he gave an overview of the 2018 ACGS results. He talked about the CG scorecard and what the Mi-MBA sector can improve upon. These recommendations reference the results of their scores and the measurement tools used to quantify governance performance.
Entering day two of the GAW, Nilda Basilan, a former BOT President of CARD MBA, and Isabel Iliw-Iliw, BOT President of KMBA, shared their experience as presidents of the BOT. Their sharing proved to be valuable considering that CARD MBA and KMBA garner strong scores in the scorecard with the latter having recently topped the ACGS at 9th place among insurers.
Resource persons from the Financial System Integrity Department of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) followed this with an overview of the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA). Bank Officer V Anna Liza Guevarra and Bank Office IV Marie-Jazmin Figueroa from BSP helped understand the law and its fundamental principles. Following this, Erlando Maniebo, RMSI General Manager, introduced their microinsurance products and services. These would complement the needs of Mi-MBAs in terms of products provided.
After this, Jun Jay Perez had another discussion entitled “Performance Management of Mi-MBAs: Monitoring and Accountability Role of the Board.” This segment demonstrated the means to enable a more transparent and accountable board. He frames these concepts as “pamamanman, babantayan, subaybayan” and “pananagot.” For the last session of the day, Camilo Casals, MiMAP (RIMANSI) Independent Trustee, delivered the session called “Making Mutuality Work: A Draft Framework.” He introduces the mutuality concept as business practice. He emphasized it as a collaborative means to compete with other players in a market.
Approaching the conclusion of the forum, the sole presenter for the final day of the GAW was Rev. Fr. Jose Victor Lobrigo who is also a Fellow of ICD, and President-CEO of SEDP-Simbag sa Pag-Asenso, Inc. He spoke of the policy and strategy role of the board with respect to practicing corporate governance. For the most part, Fr. Lobrigo said that key to this is optimization of board’s activities, interests and decisions towards better interest and governance.
Violeta Aquino, president of CARD MBA and trustee of MiMAP (RIMANSI) finished the GAW with her closing message. Her message summarized the key learnings throughout the three-day workshop. Attendees are then given certificates ascertaining their knowledge of the subject matter on hand.