Best in Corporate Governance Award

PIRA cites Oriental Assurance Corp.

By CHINO S. LEYCO

People, especially those young professionals, tend to ignore the importance of being insured. The realization only comes once catastrophe has already struck, like what happened when the twin destructive typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” hit the nation.The estimated damages due to floods brought by the typhoons reached multi-billion pesos, hard-earned money that could have been saved if only people realized the importance of insurance before hand.

Insurance, a thing to remember to save you from certain loss of your hard-earned assets, like cars, houses and machineries, that sometimes beyond people’s control. But aside from the feeling of being at ease in times of catastrophes, it is also important to be insured by a trusted non-life insurance company, an insurer that has “malasakit” (concern) to their clients. “Malasakit,” this was what the organization of all non-life insurance companies in the Philippines was looking for when it chose the Oriental Assurance Corporation as the recipient of its first Best in Corporate Governance award. In choosing Oriental Assurance, the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA) wanted to promote a virtue that is unique and notable to Filipino culture, a genuine concern to customers. Domingo N. Cotoco, Oriental Assurance chairman, says that the award shows the company’s processes and structures that enhancecorporate accountability and promote honesty among its people, while taking into account the interests of stakeholders.

“The award was based on Oriental Assurance’s transparency to its clients, financial condition, qualifications of our board of directors, the social responsibility of the company and its management performance,” Cotoco says. He adds Oriental Assurance has been always striving for the value that enables all its employees and agents to do more or give more than what is expected of them by their clients. “We are all fair, honest, dedicated, knowledgeable in our work, and respectful of one another. We do things that are always to the best interest by preserving confidentiality in all our dealings with them,” the chairman declares.

Oriental Assurance, one of the most trusted non-life insurersw in the country, provides protection to property, aviation hull, marine insurance, merchandize floater, motorcar, bond, engineering, personal accident, liability insurance, electronic equipment insurance, crime insurance,equipment floated insurance as well as reinsurance.

To date, Oriental Assurance remains one of the leaders of the country’s non-life insurance industry with P735 million gross premiums at the end of 2010 and it is expected to grow by 22 percent to P900 million this year.

Latest data from the Insurance Commission indicate that the number of players in the non-life insurance sector fell from 87 in 2009 to 80 last year, but despite the decline, Oriental Assurance remained at the 14th ranking.

“We eye that within two to three years, we will be in the top 10 bracket as we plan to increase our branches and agents as well as continue working with the bancassurance,” Cotocostates.

Amid global uncertainties brought about from the debt crisis, Cotoco acknowledges that the country’s non-life insurance sector was not spared by the effects of the Europe and US problems. “We never cease to satisfy ourdesire to increase our knowledge and improve our competencies in our field of expertise,” he adds. The Oriental Assurance chairman also reveals that the company has unselfishly extend its professional responsibility and if need be, “our personal care in serving not only our immediate clients, but even beyond their family members when the need arises.” Founded by Don Gonzalo H. Cotoco in 1962, he strongly believed in insurance that he decided to devote his whole life to it. Starting out as an agent for leading insurance companies in that time, he went on to start his own insurance firm, serving as the company’s first chairman and president. Later, he was to pass on this legacy to his son, Nazario H. Cotoco, then to Domingo N. Cotoco, who continued to lead the company, inspired by his grandfather’s strong conviction in the importance of insurance.