General insurance to see better growth in 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: The general insurance industry will likely see better growth this year, compared with the 2.5 to 3.5 per cent growth anticipated for 2016, driven by improving consumer confidence.

Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII) chief executive officer Datuk Syed Moheeb Syed Kamarulzaman said the market saw better car sales towards the end of last year and this would likely spill over into 2017.

“Considering 48 per cent of general insurance premiums are from the motor segment, we believe there is still some element of optimism,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Talent Development Seminar here yesterday.

Syed Moheeb said another clear sign of improving consumer confidence is the higher market price for second hand cars, which also indicated higher demand.

“During challenging times, there is a tendency for prices of

Considering 48 per cent of general insurance premiums are from the motor segment, we believe there is still some element of optimism. Datuk Syed Moheeb Syed Kamarulzaman, MII chief executive officer

second hand cars to be lower.

But, the market value is slowly creeping up again, which indicates people are starting to buy.

The one-day seminar, themed, “Preparing for the Future Workplace, Today”, was organised by MII to address the serious issue of talent and skills shortage in the financial services industry.

For the past few years, Syed Moheeb said MII had been active in helping the industry to fill the gap (talent and skills shortage) by developing pogrammes which could help recognise new ideas.

“As the industry’s professional body and education institute, MII want to be the learning and education partner for the insurance industry, as we look at preparing talent for the future,” he added.

In August last year, the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) announced that the general insurance industry recorded moderate growth of three per cent for the first six months of 2016 at RM9.34 billion from RM9.07 billion in the same period of 2015.

It said the motor insurance segment was the biggest contributor, rising 0.7 per cent to RM4.12 billion from RM4.09 billion recorded in the first half of 2015.

For the full year of 2016, PIAM expected general insurance growth to be between 2.5 to 3.5 per cent.