The Insurance Commission (IC) has reinstated the two-tiered minimum insurance premium rates for catastrophe insurance products.
Based on IC Circular Letter No. 2024-11, premium rates for earthquake risks now back at 0.10 percent, while for typhoons and floods, they are set again at 0.05 percent.
Issued on April 17, 2024, the latest IC order was signed by Insurance Commissioner Reynaldo A. Regalado and will take effect immediately.
This recent decision by the IC supersedes Circular Letter No. 2022-34, which was issued on July 14, 2022, and introduced a revised rating structure for all catastrophe risk policies starting from January 1, 2023.
The 2022 circular had established a diversified minimum insurance premium rate based on construction types and risk zones that led to significant premium hikes ranging from 40 percent to as high as 400 percent.
A party-list legislator earlier called for a congressional inquiry into the impact of the 2022 circular on catastrophe insurance options.