PH insurance industry remains rosy

Facade of Insurance Commission in Metro Manila | PHOTO: Judgefloro via WikiMedia Commons

The outlook of the insurance industry in the Philippines remains positive for the next six years despite challenges, Insurance Commission (IC) Commissioner Reynaldo Regalado said on Tuesday.

“Generally, we’re optimistic on the uptake of insurance by our country. Actually, that seems to be the projection of others, even for the next five to six years,” Regalado said during the 74th anniversary of the Philippine Life Insurance Association (PLIA).

For the first quarter, the insurance industry recorded P108.53 billion from combined premiums, increasing by 10.9 percent from P97.90 billion in the same period a year ago.

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Its combined net income also went up by 44.9 percent to P14.29 billion in the first three months from P9.86 billion while its assets grew by 7 percent to P2.38 trillion from P2.22 trillion.

Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto urged the life insurance industry to play a significant role in combating poverty by expanding its market reach.

“This is both a challenge and an opportunity—a call to action for the industry to step up efforts in ensuring that every Filipino, especially those in low-income brackets, is protected and shielded from falling below the poverty line,” Recto said.

Recto anticipates greater adoption of insurance products as the government hopes to achieve the upper middle-income country status by 2025.

“As that increases, as our incomes increase, there would be more penetration of insurance products. As income levels increase, more people will be interested, will be able to afford to buy insurance products,” Recto said.

Impact of Typhoon Carina

Regalado said that the agency is still assessing the coverage of those that were affected by the recent typhoon Carina in the country. He emphasized the importance of micro-insurance in providing affordable protection plans, especially given the increasing threats from climate change.

“And here really, our primary here are the micro-insurances. By the nature of our demographics and geography, they are really the ones we should be strengthening because they’re the ones that can really cover a lot of our people.

In 2023, the life insurance industry covered approximately 84 million lives, marking a 16 percent increase from the pre-pandemic figure of 72 million. Out of these, 44 million were covered by micro-insurance products. Additionally, the average amount Filipinos invest in life insurance rose to P2,745.7 in 2023, up from P2,182.8 before the pandemic, the DOF said.