IC shuts down non-life insurance company

The Insurance Commission has stopped the operations of non-life insurance provider BF General Insurance Co. Inc. and placed it under conservatorship.

In an April 11 letter to the company’s board through president Rene Carlos P. Barretto, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc ordered BF General Insurance to “cease and desist from taking new risk and/or renewal business of any kind or character.”

The Insurance Commission on March 30 ordered BF General Insurance to infuse into the company P265.1 million to cover deficiencies.

However, Dooc said the Insurance Commission’s non-life division evaluated BF General Insurance’s response on April 4 and found the submission “not compliant to the required infusion.”

In a separate document also dated April 11, Dooc informed the company that the regulator had temporarily appointed lawyer John A. Apatan, chief of the Insurance Commission’s conservatorship, receivership and liquidation division, as ex-officio conservator of BF General Insurance.

According to its website, Parañaque City-based BF General Insurance was established in 1961, and had been offering insurance covering engineering, fire and lightning, marine cargo, motor vehicle and personal accident as well as underwriting surety, among other casualty and liability products and services.

Latest Insurance Commission data showed that as of April 18 this year, 43 insurance companies had been placed under conservatorship, liquidation and receivership.

Another 32 pre-need firms had been placed under conservatorship as of April 16, while six firms had been under court rehabilitation as of end-2015.