Our Company Profile

OUR COMPANY PROFILE

OUR PROFILE

CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative, established at Cagayan De Oro in 1971, is a leading LIFE & NON-LIFE micro-insurance provider in the Philippines licensed by the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) & the Insurance Commission (IC). Through the years, CLIMBS leads and strengthens its advocacy in providing insurance protection especially for the grassroots of the country while upholding the cooperative principles as its way of doing business.

Founded in 1971 by the late Atty. Mordino Cua and Atty. Aquilino Pimentel Sr., CLIMBS started by bringing mutual protection to its members as an alternative to insurance products offered by big traditional insurance companies especially in the Visayas and Mindanao.

With increasing number of members who wish to be protected by insurance, throughout the years, CLIMBS offered more and more services to cover their increasing needs. It eventually ventured into partnerships with primary cooperatives nationwide through CoopAssurance Center (CAC) to become a distribution channel of insurance products and services to its members and, overall, as a financial solutions provider to cooperatives and their respective members.

CLIMBS IN RETROSPECT

HUMBLE BEGINNING

CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative started in 1971 as an experiment in mutual protection.

Lawyers Mordino R. Cua, Aquilino Pimentel, Sr. and other prime movers from of the Misamis-Oriental-Bukidnon-Camiguin Federation of Cooperatives (MBC) and the Southern Philippines Education Cooperative Center (SPECC) organized CLIMBS to provide mutual protection to cooperative members that include low income farmers, fishermen, employees and laborers who cannot afford or do not have easy access to insurance products offered by commercial insurers.

At its inception, CLIMBS, with only six member-owners, served as a service unit of the MBC dealing with life insurance.

CLIMBS start with nothing – no assets, no grants but only with sheer determination to grow and make a difference in the lives of coop members, and the public in general. CLIMBS originally held office at the residence of Atty. Cua in Cagayan de Oro.

Its first set of Board of Directors was composed of Atty. Cua who was also the manager until his retirement in 1993, Fernando S. Alag Sr., Faustino H. Paraguya, Felipe Flores, Daniel Sinco, Casimiro Mansilla, Bernardino O. Ente Sr., and Charles Pangilinan, who hailed from different places in Mindanao. Manuela Pelaez was the first secretary.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges, CLIMBS was undaunted. In fact, it became more determined in promoting its ideals and aspirations as a cooperative mutual benefit services provider to cooperatives in the country.

CLIMBS OVER THE YEARS

Few years after its creation, member-owners of CLIMBS decided to have it incorporated as a non-stock and non-profit corporation.

Climbs was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 20, 1975 making CLIMBS a separate entity. However, the incorporation placed it under the management of SPECC, now known as MASS SPECC.

On December 17, 1992, CLIMBS was registered with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) in compliance with Republic Act 6938 or the Cooperative Code of the Philippines. Its registration with SEC was cancelled on April 14, 1993.

Under the management of Mr. Fermin L. Gonzales, who succeeded Atty. Cua it became a Mutual Benefit Association (MBA) on April 20, 1994 by virtue of a license issued by the Insurance Commission.

On June 1, 2007, CLIMBS the MBA and CLASP the insurance company was consolidated and in 2008, CLIMBS applied with the Insurance Commission (IC) for the composite insurance license to operate as life and general insurance company.

On March 26, 2010, CLIMBS was granted by the Insurance Commission (IC) the license as composite insurance.

In 2011, CLIMBS launched its Institute for Financial Literacy and by 2015, registered with SEC its own mutual fund and asset management corporation.

TIE UP

Adhering to the principle of cooperation among cooperatives.

CLIMBS established linkages with foreign and domestic cooperative institutions such as Canadian Cooperative Association (CCA) and the International Cooperative Development Agency (ICDA). The tie-up with ICDA-CCA in 1989 enabled CLIMBS to acquire the needed technical know-how and financial assistance to develop its insurance services. In 1996, CLIMBS was affiliated with the International Cooperative Mutual and Insurance Federation (ICMIF) an association of insurers in over 60 countries in the world.

CLIMBS TODAY

CLIMBS is already a billion insurance company in assets owning several properties and commercial complex in Cagayan de Oro City.

It has its Branch office in Quezon City, area offices in Davao City, Cebu City, Naga City, Baguio City and Iloilo City and satellite offices nationwide.

On hindsight, CLIMBS’ achievements became possible due to the tenacity of its leaders who doggedly moulded a fledgling organization into a viable, service-oriented grassroots insurance institution. The support it received from cooperative in the country, the presence of open-minded, dynamic, aggressive and result-oriented leadership and a management style that always seek common grounds are important factors that brought CLIMBS to its present status.

In the meantime, CLIMBS continues its journey into becoming a complete financial solution enterprise.

Reinsurers

Local Affiliations

International Affiliations

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Reinsurers

Local Affiliations

International Affiliations

Partners

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