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Standard Insurance Co., Inc. (the "Company") is a Philippine non-life insurance company with a license to operate all types of non-life insurance products. It was founded in August 1, 1958 by the late Dr. Romeo R. Echauz.  The Company is the leader in motorcar insurance with a market share of 17.1% for loss and damage portion (or more specifically, own damage/theft covers), based on the 2008 Annual Report of the Insurance Commission and insures more than one out of every five new cars sold in the country. After its acquisition of Zurich General Insurance Philippines from Zurich Financial Services (ZFS) in late 2003 where it became ZFS's cooperative partner in the Philippines, the Company became one of the strongest in property insurance. It has one of the highest shares in industrial fire, at 26.3%, based on the same 2008 IC statistics. In terms of gross premiums, the Company is the fourth largest in the country with a portfolio mix of close to 70:30 with motorcar accounting for a major part of its portfolio and the balance in non-motor insurance, primarily property insurance.
The Company's nationwide retail operations, catering mostly to motorcar insurance, are the most extensive and most advanced in the industry. It has 43 computerized and full service branches, with underwriting and claims handling capabilities, more than 250 car dealer tie-ups, technical operations for determining repair estimates, and a call-center. The technical operations are supported by more than a hundred specialized mechanics and engineers deployed all over the country, with expertise in motor car repairs, and a computerized parts database for all models of popular brand vehicles. Its repairs, with the quickest turnaround time in the industry, are almost exclusively referred to its dealer tie-ups.
On the other hand, the Company's corporate operations handle the large motor fleet accounts, the property insurance under the International Program Business (IPB) in partnership with ZFS and the open market local accounts through the large insurance brokers. The large motor fleet accounts have the same technical and claims processing as those of retail operations and they include those of Asian Development Bank, Banco de Oro, Bayer Philippines, Inc., Chinatrust (Phils), EastWest Banking Corp., Globe Telecom, Inc., Holcim Philippines, Inc., Nestle Philippines, Inc., Pepsi Cola Phils., Pfizer, Inc., Roche Philippines, Sanofi-Aventis Philippines, Inc., Smart Communications, Inc and Tollways Management Corporation. The IPB accounts include those of Colgate-Palmolive Philippines, Golden Arches Development Corp. (McDonalds), Holcim Philippines, Inc., Kraft Foods Phils, Nestle Philippines, Inc., Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing, Inc., Procter & Gamble Philippines, Inc., Texas Instruments (Philippines), Inc., Silverlink Holdings (Aman Resorts) and Unilever Philippines, Inc., while the open market local accounts include those of American Power Conversion, Globe Telecom, Inc., GMA Network, Inc., Manila Hotel, Pepsi Cola Phils., Shangri-la Hotels, St. Luke's Medical Center, Waterfront Hotels and World Health Organization.
The Company's systems for retail operations have been developed internally while those for property insurance, such as for risk engineering, underwriting and industrial claims processing, were adopted from Zurich. The Company acquired the license from Zurich Risk Engineering for the use of a risk assessment and risk grading system called the CRS Database. This is necessary for consistency in risk assessments and uniformity of results, thereby eliminating subjectivity. The Company has also developed its own catastrophe risk management system (CRMS) where the geographic information system (GIS) or digitalized hazard mapping has been applied to the assessment of earthquake and flood risks. Linked to the Company's IT system, CRMS include the analysis of proximities to fault lines, liquefaction and ground shaking for earthquake risk, and the determination of areas susceptible to flooding for typhoon and flood risks.
The Company has also extensively made use of Zurich's real-time general insurance system or I/90 together with its full complement of IT personnel. Upon its conversion to web-base, this system will be rolled out to the rest of the branches, thus enabling the Company to be on-line nationwide.
The Company's reinsurance treaties, all under an excess of loss, are all provided by highly rated international reinsurers. For its property, miscellaneous and marine insurance, the RI panel is led by Lloyds, rated at A+ (A plus), while for motorcar, the RI cover is provided by Hanover Re, rated at AA+ (double A plus). Its property treaty has a capacity or cover of P1.5 billion for any single risk and any catastrophic occurrence while its motorcar treaty has a catastrophe cover of P2.1 billion. In the meantime, the IPB risks are wholly reinsured with Zurich Bermuda.
The Company was initially ISO certified by SGS International for quality management systems last October, 1998 under an ISO 9002:1994. This has been maintained since then and has last been upgraded to an ISO 9001:2008 in November, 2008.
Last November, 2009, the Company was accorded by Global Credit Rating ( GCR), a highly reputable international rating agency, a rating of BBB+ (triple B plus) for Philippine pesos claims paying capability and a rating of B+ (single B plus) for US dollar credit rating, a notch lower than Philippine sovereign rating. These ratings are the highest international ratings accorded to a local non-life insurance company.
The Company's Quality Policy Statement states that "Standard Insurance Co., Inc. is committed to continuously improve the quality of service to the insuring public by raising the standards of competency and professionalism, and through integrity". Its Quality Management Principles are: customer focus, leadership, involvement of people, process approach, system approach to management, continual improvement, factual approach to decision making, and mutually beneficial supplier relationship. Its Vision and Quality Objectives are: 1) to instill a quality culture that promotes the values of professionalism, integrity, discipline, teamwork and productivity; 2) to maintain profitability and other financial targets and sustain competitiveness of the Company in the non-life insurance business; 3) to consistently give our customers value for their money; 4) to recruit and retain competent people committed to perform at their best in delivering quality service to our customers; and, 5) to promote employees' continuous professional personal development. Recently, it has applied the principles of Landmark Education for quality culture and development of its personnel; to make them effective in their relationships with each other, make them operate at their peak performance and make them communicate to elicit the best in others.
The Company's professional management team, together with its manpower complement of more than 900 employees nationwide, has evolved from the combined expertise in retail insurance, with the application of retail banking by senior officers who were former bankers, and in industrial property insurance upon the acquisition of Zurich General Philippines.
To better serve its clients, the Company recently moved its corporate headquarters to Makati City at the Petron Mega Plaza Building along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, occupying three floors and within the heart of the country's financial center. The consolidation of the head office operations into one office building has resulted to better coordination and more efficient flow of operations which all redound to improved client service. Furthermore, it facilitates the plan of the Company in business process outsourcing (BPO) for international insurance companies especially in claims and technical operations for motorcar insurance.
The Company recently increased its paid-up capital to P800 million maintaining its position as one of the highest capitalized local non-life insurance company in the country. As part of its capital build-up program, it plans to further increase this to P1.0 billion through the issuance of tier 2 capital in the form of preferred shares. Aside from its high capitalization, its ownership structure has been very ideal for the Company's expansion as a highly professional financial service institution. The Company is wholly owned by Echauz Holdings Inc., a holding company whose owners are professionals, with high academic achievements, in the field of banking, finance, accountancy and insurance.
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