Year: 2014

Around 500 microinsurance experts from around the world converged at the 10th International Microinsurance Conference last November 11 in Mexico City.

Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions (CLIS) General Manager Jonathan Batangan represented the Philippines along with other Filipino delegates: former Insurance Commissioner Evangeline Escobillo, Insurance Deputy Commissioner Ferdinand George Florendo, GIZ Director Antonis Malagardis, Pioneer's Jeric Laude, and Mapfre's Butch Mayoralgo.

In the afternoon of the conference’s first day, the Philippines was cited as the country with the highest microinsurance density in the world.

In a 2013 report entitled "Drivers of scale in MI," CLIS was the only microinsurance player  from the Philippines considered in the study. The report, distributed to all the delegates, was produced by conference organizer Munich Re Group, one of the world’s leading microinsurance companies based in Germany.
 

View event photos here.

The PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies’ (PJLGC’s) education and sports advocacy projects bested nine of the Philippines’ top conglomerates, bagging this year’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Company of the Year award during the recent Asia CEO Awards in Solaire Resort and Casino.

The country’s most preferred microfinancial and business-to-business company, PJLGC has been offering Filipinos with quality and innovative services and products alongside its promotion of its corporate social responsibility advocacies.
 
“We are happy with this distinction from our contemporaries in the industry. This recognition affirms our continued commitment to, and fortifies our company’s mission of, giving opportunities for people to be a valuable component of society. Education and sports are excellent channels for growth and personal development for the people, most especially the disadvantaged and financially challenged,” said P.J. Lhuillier Group President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier.

Its CSR efforts were deemed most distinguished among its fellow finalists—Cognizant, HSBC, IBM, Lafarge, Magsaysay, Meralco, Philex Mining, SM Cares, and WiPro.

Since the incorporation of the company’s CSR arm, the Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. (CLFI), PJLGC has been advocating “education for all” through its nationwide scholarship program,which targets to produce family bread-winners and contributors to the country’s economy. At present, CLFI offers more than 300 scholarship slots in 11 partner schools nationwide.

This year, PJLGC helped thousands of out-of-school youth and adult to restart their education journey through the establishment of 16 Cebuana Lhuillier Alternative Learning System (ALS) Community Learning Centers nationwide.

PJLGC is also recognized as a long-time patron of Philippine sports through its President and CEO, Jean Henri Lhuillier.

The company implemented projects that aim to boost sports development and awareness in the country such as the grassroots developmental tennis and basketball programs—the year-round Cebuana Lhuillier Age Group Tennis, and the Tryouts ng Bayan. The company also currently owns and manages a team that plays in the Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League (PBA D-League)—the Cebuana Lhuillier Gems.

PJLGC has also been supporting and sponsoring various Philippine National Teams such as the Philippine Davis Cup Team, the RP Blu Boys and Girls, the RP Youth Bowling Team, the Philippine Men’s and Women’s National Basketball Team, and just recently, Team Gilas Pilipinas, in their quests to bring sports glory for our country.

The company, through its President and CEO also holds key positions in different sports organizations in the country. Lhuillier is the current Chairman of the Board of the Philippine Tennis Association (PhilTA), team manager of the Philippine Davis Cup Team, team owner of Cebuana Lhuillier Gems, and the president of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (ASAPHIL).

PJ Lhuillier was also one of the finalists for the Top Employer of the Year award,with Jean Henri as a finalist for the Global Filipino Executive of the Year.

Asia CEO is an annual award-giving body that recognizes distinctive and diverse achievements of the country’s most accomplished management teams and industry leaders.

 

Extending the partnership beyond business, Cebuana Lhuillier supported international remittance business partner Moneygram in their book donation event held in SM Annex Ecoland, Davao City last October 23.

Thousands of books on subjects ranging from English, law, and science were donated to six high schools, six colleges, and the Davao Public Library.

Aside from participating in the turnover ceremony, Cebuana Lhuillier also infused the program with its branded Letra Swerte game to the enjoyment of the audience. All who participated in the game received Phiten premium items as prizes.

The event was attended by Ka-Cebuanas in Region 5, headed by Regional Manager Jun Flores.
 

View event photos here.

 

At the 32nd Foundation Anniversary and Partners Day of Dual Tech Training Center, Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. (CLFI) was recognized for its commitment to support the technical-vocational school for the past 14 years. The event was held last October 30 at the Dual Tech Center in Canlubang, Calamba City, Laguna.

Since 2001, CLFI has provided scholarship grants to financially-challenged but deserving students and has already produced a total of 46 competent graduates who are performing very well in different industries.

Dual Tech President Arnolfo Morfe closed the celebration by inspiring partners to continue their support for Dual Tech as it plans to further expand its programs.

 

View event photos here.

 

Cebuana Lhuillier’s Search for the Happiest Pinoy is back, with a wider scope, new special awards and bigger cash prizes.

A P1 million cash prize, tax-free, awaits the Search for the Happiest Pinoy 2014 grand winner while nine (9) runners-up will receive P50,000. The country’s leading micro financial company will also give special prizes to the Happiest Student and Happiest Overseas Filipino Worker.

“With our Search for the Happiest Pinoy, we want to recognize outstanding Filipinos who are able to both rise above life’s challenges and positively impact the lives of other people with their positive outlook in life,” said Michael Sena, PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies Integrated Marketing Communications Group Head. “This is our way of celebrating the values of optimism, resilience, and hope among Filipinos.”

Filipinos, 18 years old and above, with good moral character can be nominated to the search. Nomination forms can be downloaded from www.happiest-pinoy.com and are available in any of Cebuana Lhuillier’s more than 1,700 branches nationwide, to enable more people to nominate their happiest Pinoys.

Accomplished nomination forms can be mailed together with supporting documents to: SEARCH FOR THE HAPPIEST PINOY SECRETARIAT, PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies, Inc., 2/F Annex 2, PJL Corporate Centre, 1782 N. Garcia cor. Candelaria Sts., Makati City 1209. Scanned copies of the accomplished nomination forms and supporting documents can also be emailed to [email protected]. Nominations can be submitted from October 24, 2014 until March 31, 2015.

The nominees will be screened by the Happiest Pinoy Board of Judges composed of CNN 2009 Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida, McCann-Erickson Chairman Emeritus Emily Abrera, Assistant Secretary Anne Corominas, Cebuana Lhuillier General Manager Jonathan Batangan, Happiest Pinoy grand winners Winston Maxino and Rommel Arellano, inspirational speaker and corporate trainer Francis Kong, Camarines Sur 3rd District Representative Maria Leonor Robredo and broadcast journalist Luchi Cruz-Valdez.

Since its launch in 2009, the Search for the Happiest Pinoy has been awarded to two deserving individuals. Winston Maxino, a corporate executive who was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a degenerative and incurable bone disease, was declared the first Happiest Pinoy grand winner in 2010. Rommel Arellano, a guidance counselor who was afflicted with polio at age 1, was declared Happiest Pinoy in 2012, besting more than 13,000 nominees nationwide.

This year, Cebuana Lhuillier is taking its Search for the Happiest Pinoy to different schools and offices nationwide to get even more nominations.

 

View event photos here.

 

Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation, Inc. (CLFI) recently awarded Php200,000 to the Tagum City Government in Davao for bagging the Special Award of Excellence in Literacy. The 2014 National Literacy Conference and Coordinating Council (LCC) Awards were held last September at the Benitez Hall in Baguio Teachers Camp, Baguio City.

According to Tagum City Mayor Dr. Allan Rellon, the award recognizes their effort in pioneering sustainable literacy programs and a result of strategic partnership between the Department of Education and local government.

CLFI is the official benefactor of the Php200,000 cash component of the highest literacy award, the Special Award of Excellence in Literacy.

The said award is given only to Hall of Fame Awardees (first placers in the Outstanding Local Government Unit category for three years) who have shown sustainability and improvement of their outstanding literacy program.
 

 

Makati, October 15, 2014: Cebuana Lhuillier, the country’s premier microfinancial company,is partnering with Colixo Inc., an electronic payment start up incorporated in the Philippines, through a direct investment.

Colixo is building a world-class omni-channel payment-processing platform, which allows acceptance of traditional electronic payments as well as new payment experiences.  The platform will offer merchants and financial institutions customized payment acceptance in a secure and efficient manner that will bridge the gap between legacy payment technology and emerging payment innovations.

“This venture with Colixo will thoroughly expand Cebuana Lhuillier’s reach to its clients, and expand the scope of its coverage nationwide. By combining Colixo’s technology with our unequaled geographical outreach, we can offer even more innovative and cost-efficient services to our customers—particularly those outside of urban areas where traditional financial institutions are typically not present. This will greatly benefit the banked, underbanked and unbanked Filipinos, for they will have greater access to traditional electronic payment services, or to financial solutions truly tailored to their needs,” says Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier.
 

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About Cebuana Lhuillier: Cebuana Lhuillier is the country’s leading and largest non-bank financial services provider specializing in pawning, remittance, and microinsurance.

Cebuana Lhuillier is part of the PJ Lhuillier Group of  Companies,  a dynamic, multi-industry company that owns and operates businesses dealing with other  financial services such as bills payment, collections and payout services, and banking, on top of all the services that Cebuana Lhuillier offers.

 

About Colixo Inc.: Colixo is part of the Narra group of companies, which is a collection of high-technology hardware and software companies, sharing a common set of predominant investors and aiming at delivering new technology to the market place.
Colixo has been incorporated to bring innovative, scalable and secure electronic transaction solutions to Philippines specifically, and to emerging countries in Asia generally. The leadership team of Colixo has an extensive strategic and operational experience – as well as successful track records both domestically and internationally – in developing, implementing and maintaining enterprise solutions.
 

Mechanics

 

Nomination to the Search

 

Who can be nominated: Any Filipino of legal age, good moral character, and residing in the Philippines.
Who can nominate: Any Filipino of legal age, group, or organization.
Deadline: Nominations can be submitted from October 24, 2014 until March 31, 2015.

 

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Submission of Entries

 

You can get the nomination form through the following ways:

1.Download the nomination form from the Happiest Pinoy Website or through Happiest Pinoy Facebook Page

 

2. Get the nomination forms in any of Cebuana Lhuillier’s more than 1,700 branches nationwide. March 31, 2015.

 

To submit your nominations, you may:

1.Mail the accomplished form together with the supporting documents to:

 

SEARCH FOR THE HAPPIEST PINOY SECRETARIAT
PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies Inc.
2/f Annex 2, PJL Corporate Centre,
1782 N. Garcia cor.Candelaria Sts.,
Makati City 1209

 

2. Send the accomplished nomination form (scanned copy) together with the supporting documents (scanned copies) to [email protected]

 

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Criteria for Judging/ Qualifications of Nominee

 

1. A constantly cheerful face and optimistic outlook – 30%

2. Proven ability to rise above life’s challenges. – 35%

3. A positive impact in the lives of others – 35%

 

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Selection Process

1. A Screening Committee composed of PJ Lhuillier Group Officers and Managers will determine the Top-20 finalists.

2. The Top 20 Semi-Finalists will be forwarded to the Board of Judges who will select the Top 10 Finalists.

3. The Top 10 Finalists will each undergo a panel interview with the Board of Judges. After the interviews, the Board will select the 2015 Happiest Pinoy.

 

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Special Awards

 

From among the Top 10 Finalists, two (2) special awards will be given out:

• Happiest Student Award
• Happiest Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Award

 

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Contest Prizes

 

– All cash prizes are tax-free:

1. Happiest Pinoy Grand Winner – ₱ 1,000,000.00

2. Nine (9) runners-up: ₱ 50,000.00 each

3. Special Awards: ₱ 25,000.00 each

 

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Announcement of Winners

 

The Happiest Pinoy winners will be announced in June 2015.
The decision of the Board of Judges/Selection Committee is final and non-appealable.

 

 

Financial institutions like banks have served the needs of middle and high-income classes – the moneyed classes, but often leave the low-income ones, especially those in remote areas, underserved, if not totally unserved.
 
Most of these low-income families also do not have access to government’s social security agencies and have no healthcards to help them out during emergencies. Thus, when misfortune hits them hard, these poor households find it hard to cope with and manage the risks they face and get mired in debt from relatives and friends, left with no means to rebuild their damaged properties, or face death unable to afford expensive medical treatments.

Cebuana Lhuillier saw this need to provide the Filipino masses with  quality  and  affordable insurance  protection when 15  years ago, in 1999, it established its microinsurance arm, the Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solutions (CLIS) to further fulfill its chosen mandate of bringing financial inclusion to the Filipino masses through financial products and services backed up by the country’s major and most reputable insurers.  

CLIS General Manager Jonathan Batangan said, “We are committed to our promise to provide relevant and  responsive micro-insurance products and services for Filipinos. We want to assure them peace of mind knowing that they will be assisted financially in times of emergencies.”

The company primarily serves the needs of the low income sector  which  is  the most vulnerable  to risks and hazards like death and injury, sudden illness, and loss of lives and properties  from natural and man-made calamities, to name a few.

With fifteen years of service in the micro-insurance industry, CLIS has introduced  a variety of unique insurance products, programs, and services that aim to secure every facet of their lives at the most affordable  premiums.

Cebuana Lhuillier has recently offered  not only traditional insurance products but also  products customized to the needs of specific groups like TODACare for transport operators and drivers, TanodCare for  community volunteers, StudentCare for students, BuildersCare for construction workers, EmployeeCare for employees, SecurityCare for security guards, among others.
 
To date, CLIS’s micro-insurance products  have  covered more than 15 million Filipinos. Last year, its premiere microinsurance product, the Alagang Cebuana Plus  (ACP),  sold 14 million certificates covering more than 5 million Filipinos making it one of the most successful microinsurance products in the country today.

Expanding micro-insurance product portfolio and reaching out

After introducing micro-insurance products and services made more accessible through the country’s largest pawnshop chain, CLIS expands its affordable insurance offering with a wider variety of products for the poor and the marginalized  and bringing these products to where the target customers are.

“We want to be known as the company that   pioneered in   “pawnassurance”–  an initiative to promote micro-insurance on a  nationwide scale , using our pawnshop branches as distribution channels.  We have also reached out to  various  communities by visiting barangays and other far-flung  areas to sell these products with our “Microinsurance-on- Wheels” and “Barangay Cebuana”  initiatives. It is our way of championing the financial inclusion of the Filipino masses, who have long held that insurance can only be afforded by the privileged,” Batangan said.

He echoes that the low insurance penetration rate in the country  is attributable to Filipinos’ inability to squeeze insurance premiums into their monthly budget, aside from their  lack of insurance awareness.

“This inspires us to leverage micro-insurance as our way of empowering more marginalized Filipinos toward financial security. Micro-insurance products help Filipinos to be protected from the unexpected through insurance products that are very light on the pocket. This is in line with Cebuana Lhuillier’s mission and advocacy of providing financial protection opportunities for all,” he said.

CLIS’s retail micro-insurance offerings will soon include Alagang Cebuana Plus Gold  with micro-life insurance cover ,  another variant of its flagship product, the Alagang Cebuana Plus (ACP) . ACP is sold in over 1,700 Cebuana Lhuillier pawnshop branches nationwide, giving as much as Php20,000 accidental death or dismemberment coverage and Php5,000 fire assistance for only Php25 with coverage valid for four months.    

 

View event photos here.
 

 

Filipinos can soon enjoy easier and more convenient remittance transfers to their loved ones as Cebuana Lhuillier and Security Bank forge ties for  money remittance facility in a Memorandum of Agreement signing held recently in Makati City.

Through the partnership, Cebuana Lhuillier and Security Bank will be offering innovative remittance services which will capitalize on Cebuana Lhuillier’s 1,700 branches and Security Bank’s retail and corporate banking facilities.

“With our partnership with Security Bank, Cebuana Lhuillier is making money remittance much easier for the Filipinos. This is in line with the thrust of the company, which is to provide more access to financial services to Filipinos and help them to be financially educated,” Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier said.

Present during ceremony were Cebuana Lhuillier Vice President Andre Lhuillier, Security Bank President Alberto Villarosa, Cebuana Lhuillier President and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier, Security Bank Executive Vice President Eduardo Olbes, and Security Bank Senior Vice President Mariza Arcilla.

For more information about Cebuana Lhuillier’s money remittance services, visit any of the more than 1,700 Cebuana Lhuillier branches nationwide. You may also visit the official Cebuana Lhuillier Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cebuanalhuillierpawnshop and follow its official Twitter account: @kaCebuana.

 

View event photos here.