Pre-need sales down 58.6% amid pandemic-induced recession

MANILA, Philippines — Sales of pre-need products slumped amid the pandemic-induced recession, with a 58.6-percent drop in the number of plans sold across the sector in 2020.

The latest Insurance Commission (IC) data showed a total of 383,082 education, life and pension plans were sold last year, nearly three-fifths lower than the 925,370 in 2019.

Last year, sales of life plans fell 58.6 percent to 379,198 from 2019’s 914,781.

Pension plan sales also declined, by 62.8 percent to 3,617 from 9,710 in 2019.

Education plans were even fewer, dropping by 69.6 percent to 267 from 2019’s 879.

In terms of sales amount, the pre-need industry’s total premium income dropped 15.3 percent to P18.6 billion in 2020 from P21.9 billion in 2019, IC data showed.

The IC report covered the financial performance of 13 licensed pre-need firms, which had a combined asset base of P135.5 billion last year, up from P131.4 billion in 2019.

Industrywide, total liabilities inched up to P114.4 billion from 2019’s P112.8 billion.

Their total net worth climbed to P21.1 billion from P18.6 billion in 2019, even as capital stock was a slightly smaller P3.63 billion compared to P3.65 billion in the previous year.

Reserves, which under the Pre-Need Code included benefit obligations and payables, also slightly rose to P108.5 billion from P106.7 billion in 2019.

Pre-need companies’ investments in trust funds slightly declined to P115.1 billion from 2019’s P117.8 billion.

As retained earnings jumped 26.9 percent to P11.9 billion, the pre-need sector managed to post a total net income of P1.4 billion last year, reversing the P718.6-million net loss recorded in 2019.

EDV