CGIC:THE MAKING OF A COUNTRYSIDE PRIDE

In the paradigm shift that has swept global business in the last decade or so, new frontiers have since been discovered as viable, if not more, as traditional niches of old, triggering new wave of investments and entrepreneurship that has fueled growth and progress never seen before.

In the wake of a new mindset, countryside has never been more attractive to wide-eyed businessmen who now see greater prospects – in fact, a better future – in what used to be viewed as, well, backwaters better left to the less venturesome.

In today’s currency, success is the best argument aginst conventional wisdom.

Corporate Guarantee and Insurance Company (CGIC), put on stream long before countryside business became the new apple-of-the-eye of metro-centric businessmen and investors, was in the beginning an idea ahead of its time. And timing could not have been more prescient, if not prophetic.

In the last 17 years CGIC has been operating, it has not only proved critics and doubters wrong, it has also raised the bar for countryside business on the level of global excellence.

Quite a remarkable feat for a non-life insurance firm that is the only one on record or history to established its corporate headquarters in Pampanga. More than a leap of faith, it was unbridled confidence in countryside potential — the heartbeat of no less than its founder, Levy P. Laus

CGIC is now among the top performers from a declining field of 69 non-life insurance companies in the Philippines, down from about 100, a trend that unmistakeably indicates just how tugh the competition is. Last year, CGIC ranked 21st in terms of net premiums written and earned.

A few days ago, CGIC was granted its new Certificate of Authority (CA) by the Insurance Commission, a license valid from July 1, 2014 until December 31, 2015 — a clear testament to the company’s relentless pursuit as a competitive and excellent outfit.

CGIC also has recently passed the recent surveillance audit on its ISO-9001 Quality Management System (QMS) certification in flying colors. The audit simply confirmed that the company has conformed with the requirements of the audit standard and provided sufficient structure to support implementation and maintenance of the Quality Management System (QMS).

CGIC is one of only six (6) non-life insurance firms in the country which are ISO-certified, a highly-valued reputation in modern-day business, especially in as tightly regulated and highly competitive as the insurance industry.

“Our Quality Management System is consistent with our projection that CGIC will have increased its network capability and efficiency several notches higher as we anticipate sustained growth and profitability through our growing customers and carefully managed expansion,” Gilbert M. Fernandez, president and COO, said.

As it marks its 17th anniversary, CGIC has been serving thousands of customers through its several branches in Metro Manila, Central and Northern Luzon, in lockstep with the continuing evolution and expansion of the Laus Group of Companies, considered one of the leading multi-dealership networks in the country today.

CGIC had played a vital role in helping clients cope with the series of natural calamities that devastated Metro Manila and Central Luzon in the past, notably the victims of typhoons Ondoy, Habagat and Odette. Hundreds of affected clients were served by CGIC in the wake fo those calamities.

It wasn’t just about our business commitment but our corporate responsibility to our customers and communities that need our help in times of distress and calamity,” he said. It is wholly consistent with our corporate slogan ‘We Value our Commitment’ and in line with the business philosophy and advocacy of no less than our Chairman, Mr. Laus,” he added.

In fact, as corporate social responsibility goes, CGIC is not one to be left behind. The company received an award from the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association as an outstanding non-life insurance company with a definite commitment to CSR through its defensive driving seminar program for customers and the general public.

Indeed, CGIC has always sought to define its commitment to its customers through new products and services. Last year, it launched itself as an authorized broker of Maxicare, the leading healthcare provider in the country.

Basically, the strategy offered a bundled product of non-life insurance coverage and a prepaid health maintenance covrage that takes care of illness or injuries arising from emergency cases.

To make its 17th anniversary in another distinct and defining way, CGIC launches another product: the CGIC Total Auto Coverage or CGIC-T.A.C. The product offers peace of mind and protection and plus, namely 1) Auto Loan Protection that guarantees full payment of the mortgaged vehicle’s bank balance in the event of the Insured’s death or total disability; 2) Premium benefits like towing and vehicle removal, fuel delivery, battery boosting and even locksmith service; 3) Accomodation or travel expenses in case of immobilization due to vehicular breakdown; and 4) Transportation reimbursement while your car is undergoing repairs due to accident covered by the Policy.

“No deal has ever been this great,” Fernandez said.

So has CGIC, a countryside idea, been all these years. NCS