The insurance industry has attracted a total premium of P224.97 billion as of end-September last year, up 2.77 percent from the prior year’s P218.91 billion, according to Dennis Funa, insurance commissioner.
On a three-year perspective however, Funa said the growth is nearly a third of 2016’s P169.56 billion or up 32.67 percent.
Speaking during the Insurance Commission’s anniversary celebration, Funa said “the increase in all premium types of variable life insurance products has driven premiums to about P172.05 billion September 2019, while the non-life sector contributed P44.02 billion in net premiums written.”
The insurance industry’s life sector posted P1.39 trillion in assets during last year, while the non-life accounted for P248.99 billion.
The pre-need industry meanwhile saw its assets rise 3.7 percent to P127.62 billion from P123.07 billion the prior year, while premium income increased by 20.60 percent to P16.99 billion from P14.08 billion.
Similarly, the HMO (health maintenance organization) posted total assets of P37.27 billion.
Total revenues reached P36.76 billion, up 8.64 percent from P33.83 billion in 2018.
Funa said the number of individuals covered by microinsurance grew to 40 million as of end-September.
“In terms of insurance density, the amount of premium per capita rose by 1.16 percent.
This means that each individual is willing to spend P2,077.30 on insurance,” he said.
Insurance penetration, or the contribution of the insurance sector to the national economy in terms of premium as a share of GDP, stood at 1.69 percent.
“Ultimately, as proof that more and more Filipinos are becoming aware of the importance of insurance, market penetration has reached 59.15 percent as of end-September,” Funa said.
