Malaysia: General insurers pay "staggering" motor claims in 1H
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Oct 2016
The Malaysian general insurance industry paid MYR13.2 million (US$3.3 million) per day in motor claims for property damage, bodily injury and vehicle theft in the first half of this year. In a statement, the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) called the figure “staggering”.
PIAM said that the industry continued to incur high motor claims for the first half of 2016 amounting to MYR2.41 billion. On a positive note, the industry recorded a decline of 5% in motor theft counts. The total number of stolen vehicles for all classes in the first half of 2016 amounted to 11,796 compared with 12,412 in 2015.
The industry body said that the general insurance market recorded a moderate growth rate of 3% for the first six months of 2016, amidst earlier sentiments that it will be a challenging year for the sector. Industry gross written premiums increased to MYR9.34 billion compared to MYR9.07 billion for the corresponding period last year.
Motor insurance grew marginally by 0.7% and maintained its major share of the overall market at 44.1%. Motor premiums stood at MYR4.12 billion in the first half of 2016 compared to MYR4.09 billion for the same period in 2015.
The industry achieved a higher underwriting profit of MYR836 million in the first half of 2016 compared to MYR754 million in the same period of 2015.