Gokongwei family invests in new life insurance firm

IC chief Dennis Funa

The Gokongwei family and two major partners engaged in a health maintenance organization (HMO) invested a total of P2 billion in capital to form the country’s newest life insurer, the Insurance Commission (IC) said on Thursday.

In a statement, Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa said he approved last July 26 the application of Maxicare Life Insurance Corp. (MaxiLife) to enter the life sector.

Funa said this new investment, which was a joint venture between the Gokongwei and Equicom groups, “marks a growing confidence in the manner by which the insurance industry has been regulated over the past six years.”

MaxiLife’s three major incorporators were privately held investment firm JE Holdings Inc., whose president and chair is tycoon Lance Gokongwei; as well as Pin-An Holdings Corp. and its arm HMO giant Maxicare Health Corp. of the Equicom Group.

“With capitalization amounting to P2 billion, MaxiLife is more than compliant with the P1-billion requirement under Section 194 of the Amended Insurance Code for new domestic life insurers,” Funa said.

All local insurance players’ net worth must rise to P1.3 billion by year-end as mandated by the Amended Insurance Code, although life and nonlife industry groups wanted to keep the current minimum of P900 million.

“MaxiLife, with an authorized capital stock of P2 billion, is notably the first domestic insurer established as a ‘new domestic life insurance company’ under Section 194 of the Insurance Code of the Philippines, as amended by Republic Act (RA) No. 10607. It was not organized through the acquisition of an existing insurer but through the incorporation of a new entity,” Funa noted.

“MaxiLife aims to offer insurance coverage to the current Maxicare members, who are afforded treatment, prevention and wellness benefits through their HMO agreements with Maxicare.

MaxiLife will associate with both the network and brand of Maxicare, specifically initially offering extended employee benefits for the latter’s corporate clients; and intends to build upon the same confidence among Maxicare members to deliver the same quality service in savings assurance,” the IC said.

Last May, JE Holdings acquired 42.3 percent of Maxicare, making it the Gokongweis’ first foray into the HMO business. INQ