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Singapore’s life insurance industry has got off to a good start in 2018 as first quarter business weighted new premiums reached a total of $925.1 million, up 14% from the same period last year.
Linked policies recorded the highest growth in total weighted premiums of SG$208 million, with an 82% surge from the first three months of 2017, according to figures from the Life Insurance Association, Singapore.
Meanwhile, $642.8 million in weighted annual premiums were registered during the first three months of the year, up by an annualised 21%. This is attributed to increases recorded across all policy types, namely, linked, participating and non-participating policies, the association said.
However, a recent study by the association found that Singaporeans lack 80% of critical illness protection needs.
“Collectively, the life insurance industry will not only look at continuing ongoing public education efforts, we will also develop more targeted public engagement programmes based on insights from our follow-up qualitative study, so that we can help more individuals in Singapore better protect their loved ones, their future, and their quality of life,” said LIA president Patrick Teow in a statement.
At the end of March, the industry paid out $1.30 billion to policyholders and beneficiaries. Of this amount, SG$1.06 billion was for policies that matured. The remaining $237 million was for death, critical illness, or disability claims.
