MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Coop Life Insurance & Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS), Munich Re, GTZ Partner to Create Microinsurance Product in the Philippines

Coop Life Insurance & Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS) of the Philippines; Munich Re, a reinsurance company established in 1880 in Munich; and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ), a federally-owned development organization in Germany, are coming together to create a microinsurance product to protect microfinance loan portfolios in the Philippines that experience losses due to extreme weather. Frequent inclement weather in the Philippines, such as typhoons, prevents many borrowers from repaying their loans, forcing the microfinance cooperatives to charge higher interest rates to compensate. The three organizations will offer portfolio protection to cooperatives via CLIMBS. Once a certain measure of rainfall or windspeed is reached in a municipality, cooperatives in that location will receive a predefined percentage of their loan portfolio as a benefit.

About Coop Life Insurance & Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS): Coop Life Insurance & Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS) is a cooperative life insurance company founded in 1971 in the Philippines. It is owned by approximately 1,000 primaries and federations countrywide and provides life insurance, property insurance and health care products. As of 2008, CLIMBS has USD 5.5 million in assets and a loan portfolio of USD 2.6 million.

About Munich Re: Munich Re is a reinsurance company established in 1880 in Munich, Germany. It provides insurance advisory services, reinsurance, primary insurance and health insurance. Its assets are managed by Munich Ergo Asset Management (MEAG). As of 2009, Munich Re has equity worth EUR 22 billion (USD 30 billion), an investment portfolio of EUR 182 billion (USD 256 billion) and return on equity of 11.8 percent.

About Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ): Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ) is a federally-owned organization that was founded in 1975 in Germany. It operates in 128 countries to promote sustainable development by providing financial advisory services and funding.

By Diana Baide, Research Assistant

[1] Munich Re: Press Release. “Protecting cooperatives and their low-income members in the Philippines against extreme weather events through microinsurance” 11 October 2010

http://www.munichre.com/en/media_relations/press_releases/2010/2010_10_11_press_release.aspx

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Coop Life Insurance & Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS)

https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Coop+Life+Insurance

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Munich Re

https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Munich+Re

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GTZ)

https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Deutsche+Gesellschaft+f%C3%BCr+Technische+Zusammenarbeit+GmbH+(GTZ)

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