Celebrating partnerships during the annual National Microinsurance Forum in January 2019 with (from left to right) CDF Executive Director Mr. Ben Andre, MiMAP President Ms. Pelagia Mendones, ADB Principal Financial Sector Specialist Mr. Arup Chatterjee, MiMAP Chair Emeritus Dr. Jaime Aristotle Alip, CDF Chair Ms. Michele Aasgard, Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines His Excellency Mr. John Holmes and Citi Philippines CEO Mr. Aftab Ahmed.
In the Philippines, marginalized populations have very limited access to credit and insurance services. Formal insurance providers were simply not reaching the vulnerable and impoverished people of the region due to challenges such as collecting premiums, managing co-variant risks, adverse selection processes and moral hazards. Yet sadly, research had shown that 20% of the population were in fact, accessing insurance, albeit through informal high-risk schemes, that often result in even further poverty.
In the light of these challenges, in 2000, The Microinsurance MBA Association of the Philippines Inc. (MiMAP) or RIMANSI in the Philippines was initiated. The project’s goal was to reduce the vulnerability of the impoverished when faced with adversity such as illness and natural disasters. The strategy was to develop RIMANSI into an industry-leading resource center that would enable financial institutions to transform their in-house, informal insurance schemes, into professionally managed MBAs – using sound actuarial knowledge to ensure long-term, sustainable success.
With neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia (SEA), facing similar challenges, RIMANSI looked to expand its reach and benefits to Cambodia and Vietnam in 2005, and Indonesia in 2009.
Junjay Perez, CEO, RIMANSI reflects on RIMANSI’s amazing journey.
Purpose
Throughout the years of partnership, the purpose of the RIMANSI program was to expand the reach of microinsurance in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The program aimed to promote the mutually beneficial business model by developing self-sustaining microinsurance organizations, especially in the form of a mutual benefit association (MBA).
The project also aspired to strengthen the network of mutual micro-insurers that would provide a broader range of microinsurance products and services to improve the risk protection capacity of marginalized and impoverished households.
JunJay Perez
Partnership
The partnership with CCA/CDF Canada helped lay the foundation for a shared vision of a strong mutual microinsurance sector in the Philippines, catalyzing RIMANSI as a microinsurance resource center to replicate the Mi-MBA business model pioneered by CARD Mutual Benefit Association. The program also enabled the creation of a model for establishing and strengthening 14 Mi-MBAs in the Philippines and eight foothold microinsurance programs in Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Moreover, the program promoted and fostered a culture of microinsurance in the Philippines, alongside new products, operating systems, and research and development work.
Progress
RIMANSI has successfully transformed itself from a microinsurance resource center, established in 2005, into a formal Association of Microinsurance MBAs in 2015. Today, the Microinsurance MBA Association of the Philippines’ (MiMAP, also known as RIMANSI), has a network of 18 Mi-MBAs, with a combined membership of 7.68 million, protecting 27.57 million lives. This outreach accounts for an astounding 56% of all 48.98 million lives covered by microinsurance in the Philippines.
Finally…
On behalf of MiMAP (RIMANSI), we would like to congratulate CDF Canada for 75 years of building sustainable co-operative communities around the world. The mutual microinsurance sector in the Philippines will forever be grateful for your trust and support in our journey to build a self-sufficient network of Microinsurance MBAs in the country. We hope that you will be able to work with more communities to help empower sustainable co-operative and mutual organizations worldwide.