Apply as insurance agents, jobless Pinoys told

PEOPLE seeking jobs amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic may want to consider applying to insurance companies, according to the Insurance Commission (IC).

“We hope that those who have been rendered unemployed or laid off from work would consider [an] insurance agency as a means of livelihood during these challenging times,” Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa said in a statement on Wednesday.

To promote employment, Funa said the IC had relaxed its policy on securing insurance agent licenses to a certain degree to address the need to strengthen the sales force of the industry and respond to the adverse effects of the pandemic.

“Now, through a circular letter that we have recently issued, interested applicants may be able to secure temporary agent licenses through [ the] sponsoring insurance companies,” he added.

Under the Circular Letter 2020-69 issued last week, regulators can grant such licenses to those interested without them taking and passing the requisite qualifying examinations, provided that they possess all the qualifications under the Insurance Code.

“The IC also understands that while we need to tackle the issues of unemployment and the financial and economic recovery of the insurance industry, the safety and health of our fellow countrymen is of paramount concern,” Funa said.

According to him, the IC also authorized insurance firms to maximize the use of information and communication technologies, like videoconferencing, departing from the traditional “facetoface” marketing of insurance products in a manner consistent with the government’s quarantine and social distancing measures.

The IC chief said these new regulations would “address the prevailing unemployment issue and lead to [ the] recovery of the insurance sector from the adverse financial and economic effects of the pandemic.”

Earlier, the government reported that an estimated 7.3 million Filipinos were jobless in April, which translates to a record 17.7- percent unemployment rate.

“An increase in the insurance agency force will also promote financial inclusion through the possibility of increasing insurance penetration,” Funa said.