Singapore's life insurance business premiums up 20% to $2.02b in H1

There was an uptake in both single and annual premium products.

New business premiums in Singapore's life insurance industry surged by 20% to $2.02b in the first half of 2018, the Life Insurance Association (LIA) Singapore revealed. Contributing to this growth is the increase in uptake across both single and annual premium products.

Also read: Singapore battered by $670b mortality and critical illness gap

According to an announcement, there was $1.34b in weighted annual premiums collected in H1, whilst there was $677.7m collected in weighted single premiums. Single premium par and non-par products comprised 71%, whilst single premium linked products comprised 29%. CPFIS-included products comprised 19% and cash-funded products took the remaining 81%.

“On the whole, there has been a slight shift of consumers’ interest away from participating products, to both non-participating products and investment-linked products, attributed to insurers’ new product launches, and improving market performances and economic conditions,” LIA Singapore said.

Total sum assured for new business increased by 19% YoY, amounting to $66.3b.

Moreover, 70,000 more Singaporeans and Permanent Residents are now covered by Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) compared to 1H2017, leading to a total of 2.7 million lives, or approximately 68% of Singapore residents, with IP coverage over and above the MediShield Life component.

New business premiums for individual health insurance amounted to $205.9m, of which IP and IP rider premiums accounted for 91%. The remaining 9% came from other medical plans and riders.

More individuals took action to provide for their retirement, with 14,505 policies designed to provide regular payouts during their retirement being bought in the first six months of 2018. This is a notable 36% increase compared to last year.

These plans account for approximately 6% of the total weighted premiums recorded for the period.