GREETINGS for the new year! This is my first column for the year 2026, and I am pleased to share the important events about our nonlife insurance industry for the past year. No official data has yet been released by the Insurance Commission for the whole year 2025, so I will use the numbers as of Sept. 30, 2025, for this write-up. The 55 nonlife companies reported a net income of P8.2 billion, which is a 28.58-percent increase from the net profit of P6.4 billion for the same period in 2024. Gross premiums written increased by 7.77 percent and loss ratio is down to 42 percent from 45 percent in 2024. Motor continued to be the major line of business with Fire coming in second. While the data for the fourth quarter of 2025 is not yet available, we can safely say that it was a good year for the nonlife insurance industry. It is good to know that we have a strong and stable insurance industry which can answer up to the losses when they do happen.
Credit is due to the men and women of these companies who manage their portfolio of business with professionalism and hard work to make the company a strong and durable organization. Many of these companies have been in operation for more than 30 years which prove their stability and resilience. This will be the first of a series that will introduce the less-known insurance professionals. For this issue, I want to give tribute to the very important persons in the nonlife insurance industry who I like to call the “Unsung Heroes.”
The underwriters
Insurance companies have the same setup as other business organizations where the marketing units are responsible for bringing in the sales or the premiums. But the process of evaluating the risk falls on the other unit called the underwriting department. The underwriters or the personnel are responsible for risk evaluation, pricing, retention limits and reinsurance. These tasks may be partly done already by the intermediaries and marketing personnel before accepting the risk, but the ultimate responsibility for determining whether the company can take on such type of risk and up to how much rests with the underwriter. This setup provides the check and balance which is needed for the business of nonlife insurance. Let the marketing personnel solicit the business but quality control be exercised by the underwriters.
Because of the nature of their assignments, companies prefer those from the engineering, architecture and mathematics specialization for their underwriting positions.
For the surety lines like performance bonds, lawyers are the experts. While training can be provided internally, it is definitely an advantage if the underwriter’s educational background are already those mentioned.
Training underwriters
Underwriters have to be licensed by the Insurance Commission as provided for in Sections 327 to 331, Title 4 of the Insurance Code. The underwriters must undergo training in the line or lines that he wants to apply for licensing. The Insurance Institute for Asia and the Pacific (IIAP) has a complete array of courses for training future underwriters. Many companies send their underwriters for advanced or specialized studies, the graduate school of nonlife insurance. Many of our underwriters, including this humble columnist, took their advanced insurance courses at CII. The IIAP is accredited by the CII for the advanced course in Basic Non-life Insurance. Graduates of the course at IIAP have to pass the online exams to qualify for the advanced course. The global reinsurers like the Munich Re and the Swiss Re have invited participants from our industry to their courses which give the underwriter a global perspective.
There are many lines of insurance in nonlife for different types of risk. Fire or property, marine, motor, marine hull, aviation and more require underwriters specialized in these various lines. They have to be up-to-date with current trends, and terms and conditions. In addition to the changes in the local markets, the underwriter has to maintain a good relationship with the reinsurers and other global players which are the source of the reinsurance support for the company’s business.
The nonlife insurance industry is proud of its underwriters, talented, well-trained, persevering and are world-class insurance professionals. We should encourage and train new underwriters as we continue to engage the talent of the more senior ones. Their underwriting expertise is sharpened by age and experience. IIAP, your institute, is always ready to provide the training and the opportunity to hone your underwriting skills.
