Pawnshop, German firm tie up to enhance microinsurance

GIANT pawnshop and remittance chain Cebuana Lhuillier tied up with German International Cooperation (GIZ) to enhance financial literacy on microinsurance in the country, as it eyes to triple its microinsurance product clients in the next two years.

Jonathan Batangan, general manager of Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions (Clis), said the partnership will encourage more poor Filipinos to secure insurance with affordable premiums and faster claim process.

“Cebuana Lhuillier is one of the trailblazers of microinsurance in the Philippines with over 10 million Filipinos insured and we now have the cheapest and most affordable microinsurance product available in the market, which we launched in 2004,” Batangan said.

In this partnership, Clis will tap GIZ-developed printed and video materials to advocate microinsurance through its network of 1,500 branches nationwide.

“The pawnshop is the biggest channel of distribution in the Philippines. We want their branches to be the selling point for microinsurance,” said Antonis Malagardis, GIZ-Microinsurance Innovations Program for Social Security (MIPPS) program manager.

Malagardis is optimistic that this financial literacy strategy will achieve behavioral change among Filipinos towards microinsurance.

Batangan said the partnership will contribute to the company’s goal to triple Clis’s 10 million clients by 2013. The firm has already released payment of 30 million insurance claims since the product launching.

“We intend to roll out roadshows in different regions. We will identify these areas and visit all regions next year. We want to join force with the government. It’s an opportunity for Cebuana Lhuillier to be made known to the local communities in various areas that microinsurance product is now available in our network,” he added.

The official said it is high time to step up information drive on insurance, with only 15 percent of the Filipinos having life insurance. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)