Insurance premiums in 2014 down, says IC

Total insurance premiums to be sold this year will unlikely match the over P200 billion posted last year, according to the Insurance Commission (IC).

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc told reporters last week that matching the industry’s total premiums worth about P204 billion in 2013 would be an “uphill climb.”

Data posted on the IC website showed that total premiums last year reached P198.1 billion, up 37.3 percent from the P144.3 billion sold in 2012.

But Dooc explained that recently updated data would show that total premiums in 2013 hit more than P200 billion.

Latest IC data showed that at end-September this year, total industry premiums decreased by 15.3 percent to P132.9 billion from P156.8 billion in the same period last year.

During the first nine months, premiums sold by the life sector dropped by 19.4 percent year-on-year to P109.2 billion.

As for the non-life sector, total net premiums written grew by 11.1 percent to P23.6 billion as of end-September on the back of more purchases of insurance for motor vehicles, real estate, as well as plans covering overseas Filipino workers.

“People are now more conscious of the critical importance of certain insurance products such as Acts of God or Acts of Nature for motor vehicles,” Dooc said in an interview last month.

In terms of profit, the industry’s end-September net income declined by 15.6 percent to P12.3 billion from P14.6 billion last year. The life sector’s bottom line went down by 10.5 percent year-on-year to P10.7 billion, while the non-life sector posted a bigger drop of 38.9 percent to P1.6 billion.

The assets of the insurance industry nonetheless breached the P1-trillion mark for the first time at the end of the third quarter.