Bangkok:
The Asian Reinsurance Corp. (Asian Re), a professional insurer operating in 10 member-countries, has elected Philippines Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa as chairman.
He was elected last June 28 as Asian Re’s chairman, replacing Abdolnaser Hemmati, who had been appointed governor of the Central Bank of Iran.
Asian Re has a current net worth of around $100 million.Established in 1979, Asian Re was first chaired by a Filipino – former Insurance Commissioner Gregoria Cruz Arnaldo, who chaired the intergovernmental organization from 1979 to 1981 and was reelected to serve until 1983.
Besides the Philippines, the organization has nine other member-states from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), namely: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Iran, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
10 regular members have varying equity holdings in Asian Re, with Iran and Thailand contributing the largest sums. The Philippines’ equity is at $500,000 infused originally in 1977. Asian Re operates as a professional reinsurer accepting business from the insurance markets in member-states as well as other markets of the region and elsewhere.
Asian Re also serves as a regional center for the collection of insurance information and the development of expertise in insurance and reinsurance, to be put at the disposal of the national insurance markets of the member-states.