Insurance conglomerate to be established locally

MANILA, Philippines - A non-life insurer is set to transform itself into the first insurance conglomerate in the country with Filipinos, Malaysians, Indians Sri Lankans and eventually South Africans as share holders. The Monarch Insurance Company, Inc., would soon be transformed into a giant consortium with leaders in the insurance industry in various countries as its members, the firms leaders said over the weekend. In an exclusive interview with GMANews.TV, Mr. Khoon Ping Kouk, a Malaysian and president of the company, said that Monarch Insurance Consortium “may well be the first of its kind in the world." “We have come as a consortium of three groups – Indians, Sri Lankans and South Africans. The Idea is to bring the resources of the three groups and make the best use of it in the local company," said Mathew Verghese, director of Monarch Insurance. On the other hand, Kuok said that a lot of interesting, innovative products of the three groups are already tested technologies in their respective countries and have achieved new benchmarks. These products are not even seen anywhere in the world, he added. As to the consortium’s multinational membership, Vhergese said “all members are really big," adding that a South African group is up to ride into the Monarch bandwagon. Verghese is also a director of Bharat, an investment arm of the Shriram group of India and Ceylinco group of Sri Lanka. He said that all the member companies are stable, and that Shriram is a financial conglomerate in India with business interests in truck financing and consumer durables, property development, life and non-life insurance, stock brokering, and IT software development. Moreover, he noted that the Ceylinco group of Sri Lanka is the no. 1 general insurer in the country. It has established its leadership through innovation such as the VIP 24-hour claim in settlement services. For his part, Kuok said that the Monarch consortium will have risk management and will have a package of products for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) that are most cost effective, including repatriation for medical reasons and fast claim systems. Expressing excitement over the progress of the initial stages of the consortium, Kuok said “For me it’s like a dream come true for we have now access to resources that we can only dream about. And one particularly significant highlight with our group is we have R. Thygarajan, chairman of Shriram group of India. “I’ve said once: Great organizations happen because of great leaders and R. Thygarajan is a great leader," he added. The old Monarch Insurance Company has been registered with the Philippine Exchange Commission for the past 50 years. It is also an Insurance Commission licensed non-life insurance company. - Fernando dela Cruz, GMANews.TV