A Conversation with... Noel Raboy

Noel Raboy is President and CEO of CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative (Philippines)

Tell us about your organisation?

CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative started as a mutual benefit association and is now a full-fledged life and general insurance cooperative, 100% owned by primary cooperatives and federations. We were organised because there was a real need to provide affordable social protection owned by ordinary people — the grassroots. That’s why we sometimes call ourselves “the grassroots insurance.” Our core competence is customising products and services that meet the needs of cooperatives and their members. Today, around 4,000 primary cooperatives own us, and we insure more than 10 million Filipinos.

We offer life and general insurance, and also innovative products like parametric insurance for climate risks. That includes cover for extreme wind speed and rainfall, heat index, and drought. We’re also working on Takaful insurance to be more inclusive of our Muslim brothers and sisters, who currently don’t have this option in the Philippines.

How does being a cooperative make what you do different?

Because our goal is not profit but meeting insurance needs. CLIMBS is organised by ordinary people, not shareholders, so there’s ownership value; our policyholders are also members, and they share in any surplus. It also changes the way we work. Because the insured are also the owners, we go beyond standard rules of insurability or claims. We find ways to be flexible and humane in paying out. We listen to our members and design products quickly, whether that’s climate insurance or new initiatives like Takaful. Because we are owned by the grassroots, we can respond to their realities.

Can you give some examples?

One of the strongest examples is Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda. In 2013 the province of Leyte was flattened, and many of our member-cooperatives were affected. Through yearly renewable term and medical insurance, CLIMBS paid out around 200 million pesos. For individuals, we didn’t demand long lists of requirements. We simply paid claims. That’s what makes us different as a cooperative, we treat it as an obligation. Mutuality means standing with our members at the hardest moments.

Another example is our climate insurance. When rainfall or wind speed reaches a certain level during a typhoon, our system automatically triggers a payout. People feel the value of insurance when the policy is “on standby” and immediately supports them after a calamity.

We also act beyond insurance. By law, cooperatives here must allocate 3% of their surplus to community service. At CLIMBS, we’ve used those funds to buy fire trucks and deliver potable drinking water to remote communities. People are happy to see a CLIMBS fire truck arrive because it saves them money on bottled water and meets a basic need. That’s also social protection. 

Why was joining the CM50 important for you?

Because it gives us a bigger platform. CLIMBS may be rooted in the grassroots, but CM50 allows us to connect with other cooperative and mutual leaders, share expertise, and strengthen our collective voice internationally. It helps us amplify the mission of serving communities and highlight how cooperative and mutual insurance provides protection and resilience, especially for vulnerable groups like farmers and fisherfolk.

How do cooperatives build a better world?
By putting people first. Co-ops are enterprises organised by people, not by profit. They are based on shared ownership, mutual support, and universal values. In the Philippines and globally, cooperatives show that when we work together, everyone succeeds. We empower individuals to shape their own future, we build fairness and resilience, and we share risks. In a divided world, cooperatives offer an alternative built on solidarity.