Cebuana Lhuillier, the country’s largest microfinancial services provider, has introduced a new insurance brokerage company—Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Brokers, Inc. (CLIB)—that aims to help provide Filipinos with better access to more inclusive and affordable insurance products and services.
2018 data from the Insurance Commission reveals that almost 40 million or only 37% of the country’s 105 million total population are covered by insurance. Further highlighting how getting insurance can be a challenge, owing to most Filipinos’ ineligibility for insurance, the inaccessibility of products, and high cost of premiums.
With CLIB, which transforms the 20-year-old Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions into a future-ready insurance broker, providing even more Filipinos with access to insurance that is affordable and designed for their everyday life. Moreover, Cebuana Lhuillier will offer an array of life and non-life insurance product made possible by their partnerships with an unlimited number of insurance providers and accessible through their state of the art digital platforms. The transformation into a brokerage company further highlights Cebuana Lhuillier’s capability to help Filipinos overcome the challenges in availing insurance.
“Today marks a new and exciting chapter in the history of Cebuana Lhuillier as we continue to champion financial inclusion—no longer just an agent, but a broker—providing Filipinos, regardless of their socioeconomic class, access to insurance products that fit their needs, financial capabilities and at the comforts of their own home,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, Cebuana Lhuillier president and CEO.
Cebuana Lhuillier is also expected to offer its newest portfolio of personal, health, property, group, loan, and business and liability insurance products through CLIB. These include CL Personal Accident Basic, CL Travel Prime, CL Pamilya Max, CL Health Dengue and Leptospirosis, CL Fire, Typhoon, Flood, EQ Care, CL Drive Lite, CL Tourista Protect, CL Hotel Guest Care, CL Passenger Care, CL Employee Care Plus, CL MicroBiz Protek, CL AgriCare, and Cyber Insurance.
CLIB aims to bring prospective insurance providers and buyers together through different touch points, including the eCebuana mobile app and ProtectNow, a digital one-stop insurance shop which allows clients to compare the lowest prices of insurance offerings and monitor their insurance policies and claims in real-time.
The insurance broker will also bring its partner products, along with Cebuana Lhuillier’s flagship Protect Max, to some of the country’s biggest online stores, including Lazada and Shopee.
On ground, CLIB will offer products in more than 2,500 Cebuana Lhuillier branches nationwide as well as through their 6,500 domestic partner outlets, giving their insurance partners a unique advantage of establishing their presence in most urban and rural communities, which is still considered a largely untapped insurance market.
During the launch event, dubbed “Move into the Future”, Lhuillier, together with Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions first vice president and group head, Jonathan Batangan, paid tribute to several insurance companies who have been their trusted partners through 20 years.
Representing some of the industry’s most prominent insurance companies were Pioneer Insurance group head and CEO David Coyukiat, Prudential Guarantee chairman and CEO Robert Coyiuto, Malayan Insurance Company president and CEO Paolo Abaya, Federal Phoenix Group Insurance president and CEO Generosa Pia de Rosa, Western Guaranty Corporation EVP and general manager Claire Chua, Standard Insurance Company Inc. chairman Patricia Chilip, AXA Philippines president and CEO Rahul Hora, and Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company president and CEO Kelvin Ang.