The Philippine Life Insurance Association, Inc. (PLIA) has elected Sun Life Philippines CEO & country head Benedict Sison to the PLIA Board anew to his second-term as president. This election was held during PLIA’s annual business meeting held virtually last 24 November 2020.
Sison expressed gratitude for the opportunity to once again serve in this capacity. “I am honored to be given a fresh mandate to continue leading the Association. This will allow me to pursue the completion of our ongoing initiatives and creating new ones that will enable our industry to rise above the challenges presented by the prevailing pandemic,” he said.
During his first term, Sison led PLIA in working with the Insurance Commission (IC) to establish regulatory initiatives to allay the adverse impact of the pandemic. Among those implemented were the online product approval process, digitally-enabled selling facility, an online portal for submission of regulatory reports, and relief from the minimum net worth and Risk-Based Capital requirements.
As he assumes his second term as PLIA president, Sison looks forward to working with the other elected members of the 2021 PLIA Board of Directors in further strengthening the life insurance industry. These include AXA Philippines president and CEO Rahul Hora as vice president; Country Bankers Insurance Group senior vice president and general manager Geraldine Desiderio-Garcia as secretary; First Life Financial president and CEO Peter Coyiuto as treasurer; and Philam Life CEO Kelvin Ang, Beneficial Life president & CEO Jaime Fernandez, Etiqa Philippines president & CEO Rico Bautista, Troo president & CEO Dominik Smeets, and Philinterlife president Jose Lee as directors.
“Among the Board’s priorities are working with the IC in launching a facility for the conduct of online agent qualifying examination, initiating the review of the current insurance e-commerce regulations to support financial inclusion, and connecting with the Bangko Sentral in enabling insurance companies to offer affordable retirement programs for micro, small, and medium enterprises through issuance of a limited trust license,” Sison said. “The Board will work closely together in promoting the interests of the industry alongside with those of the insuring public.”