Philippines: Insurance mart to see record premiums this year
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Oct 2015
The Philippine insurance sector expects a record year for premiums this year, with the total likely to reach PHP250 billion (US$5.4 billion), according to Insurance Commissioner, Mr Emmanuel Dooc.
This would be higher than the PHP200-billion target set earlier by the regulator, given the encouraging figures seen in the first half of 2015. The original target of PHP200 billion is nearly triple the total five years ago.
Total premiums rose by 42% to PHP116.1 billion for the first half of this year, compared to PHP81.8 billion in 1H2014.
Premiums of life insurers soared by 49.5% to PHP98.8 billion in the first six months while premiums written by non-life insurance firms increased by 10.5% to PHP17.3 billion.
The life insurance sector reported a 31.3% increase in profit to PHP9 billion for the first six months of this year, while the non-life sector saw its profits surge by 40.4% to PHP1.8 billion.
The growth of the insurance industry is attributed to the improving Philippine economy which means higher disposable incomes.