Life insurance industry records strong growth last year — LIAM
The healthy performance of the industry reflects the increasing awareness among Malaysians on the importance of insurance protection. LIAM
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s life insurance industry continued its upward trend in 2017 with higher insurance protection for Malaysians, providing coverage amounting to RM1.38 trillion in sum assured for all policies combined.
In a statement, the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) said, the amount was six per cent higher than the RM1.3 trillion recorded in 2016.
“The healthy performance of the industry reflects the increasing awareness among Malaysians on the importance of insurance protection,” it said.
LIAM said the industry provided insurance protection to 12.64 million lives in 2017, a marginal increase of 0.1 per cent from the 12.63 million in 2016.
It said although the per capita sum assured rose to RM42,992 in 2017 from RM41,055 previously, it was still way below the amount needed to support one’s family member in the event of the death or disability of the breadwinner.
“Based on the Underinsurance Study in Malaysia conducted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and LIAM in 2013, the average mortality gap for each member of a family is about RM100,000 to RM150,000,” it said.
LIAM said the total premiums for new businesses grew by 3.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM10.11 trillion in 2017 from RM9.74 trillion previously.
The premiums for investment-linked businesses rose by 19.4 per cent y-o-y in 2017 compared with 16.4 per cent previously, while premiums for traditional businesses fell by 22 per cent y-o-y versus the 20 per cent growth in 2016, it said, adding that group policies maintained a stable growth of 4.9 per cent y-o-y from 4.8 per cent previously.
Additionally, total in-force premiums in 2017 recorded a slight increase of 3.3 per cent y-o-y to RM36.6 billion from RM35.43 billion previously, it said.
LIAM said the life insurance industry also registered an increase of 5.3 per cent y-o-y in claims amounting to RM10.1 billion from RM9.7 billion previously, mainly contributed by higher death and disability claims.
Moving forward, LIAM president, Toi See Jong, said the outlook and prospect of the life insurance sector remained positive as the percentage of population with life insurance or takaful plans was still low at 54 per cent.