The life insurance industry recorded a total of S$925.1 million (US$694.57 million) in weighted new business premiums for January to March 2018, a 14% growth from the previous year, according to Life Insurance Association, Singapore.
Linked policies recorded the highest growth in total weighted premiums of S$208 million, with an 82% increase from 1Q2017.
In terms of annual premiums, S$642.8 million in weighted annual premiums were registered during the first three months of the year, a growth of 21% from the corresponding period in 2017. This is attributed to increases recorded across all policy types namely; linked, participating and non-participating policies.
For single premium products, the industry recorded S$282.3 million in weighted single premiums, a
0.4% increase from 1Q2017, for which:
a) Single premium par and non-par products comprised 65%, the balance 35% were single premium linked products
b) CPFIS-included products comprised 24%; Cash-funded products took the remaining 76%
Rise in sum assured and uptake of protection-focused policies
The industry continues to make significant progress in supporting individuals in Singapore to better meet their protection needs.
There was a significant 23% year-on-year increase in total sum assured for new business, amounting to S$29.9 billion in 1Q2018.
Mr Patrick Teow, President of LIA Singapore, said, “While our Protection Gap Study 2017 found a persistent gap in the level of protection amount in Singapore, it is heartening to know that more people are taking actions to get better insured. Collectively, the life insurance industry will not only look at continuing ongoing public education efforts, we will also develop more targeted public engagement programmes based on insights from our follow-up qualitative study, so that we can help more individuals in Singapore better protect their loved ones, their future, and their quality of life.”
As at 31 March 2018, the life insurance industry paid out S$1.30 billion to policyholders and beneficiaries. Of this amount, S$1.06 billion was for policies that matured. The remaining S$237 million was for death, critical illness, or disability claims.
LIA Singapore launched the enhanced “Register of Unclaimed Life Insurance Proceeds” in April 2018. The register now includes unclaimed monies from a wider range of individual insurance policies, allowing insurance benefits to eventually reach more policyholders and claimants.
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