Life insurance industry new business premiums up 12.4% to RM12.8b in 2021 – The Sun Daily

KUALA LUMPUR: The life insurance industry registers double-digit growth of 12.4 per cent or RM12.8 billion in new business total premiums in 2021 from RM11.4 billion in 2020.

In a statement, Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) president Loh Guat Lan (pix) said the stronger performance of the life insurance industry reflects the increase in awareness among consumers on the importance of life insurance protection amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The industry recorded a healthier performance driven by the strong rebound of investment-linked policies which rose 31.2 per cent to reach RM6.6 billion in 2021, despite the challenging business environment due to the pandemic,” she said in a statement today.

Group policies recorded a moderate growth of 7.7 per cent in new business total premiums to RM4.1 billion in 2021 Loh added.

However, traditional policies charted a decline of 17.3 per cent during the year.

“The overall new business sum assured increased to RM461.1 billion, registering a modest growth of 5.4 per cent from RM437.2 billion in 2020,” she said.

Meanwhile, Loh said new policies issued in 2021, recorded a strong growth of 53.5 per cent to 1.9 million policies last year compared to 1.2 million in 2020 due to encouraging take-up of Perlindungan Tenang (PT) policies under the Perlindungan Tenang RM50 Voucher programme for Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat (BPR) recipients from end-September until end-December 2021.

In addition, the total in-force premiums rose eight per cent to RM46.8 billion in 2021 compared to RM43.4 billion in 2020, he said.

LIAM chief executive officer Mark O’Dell said the industry foresees the positive trends will continue in 2022.

“The industry will continue to engage proactively with our key stakeholders and embark on our ongoing consumer education programmes to generate awareness on the importance of life insurance protection.

“We will continue to educate the consumers on medical and health insurance and how it can save their lives, factors that could lead to changes on premiums, how to maintain the sustainability of their medical policies and their role as responsible consumers,” he added. – BERNAMA