Singlife has introduced a Limited Pay option for its Elite Term II life insurance plan, offering policyholders an alternative way to manage premium payments while keeping coverage until age 99.
This new feature allows customers to pay premiums for a specified period instead of over the lifetime of the policy, providing flexibility for those who prefer not to have ongoing payments.
The policy guarantees a lump sum payout in the event of death or terminal illness.
Additionally, those who reach the end of the coverage period will receive a full refund of all base premiums paid under the longevity benefit.
For policyholders looking to exit early, a surrender benefit is also available from the third year of the policy.
Helen Shen, group head of life and health at Singlife, explained the reasoning behind the new payment option.
“We have introduced a new limited pay option for our Singlife Elite Term II suite to give customers more flexibility in managing their premium payments and additional benefits,” she said.
This new Limited Pay option is part of Singlife’s broader Elite Term II product line, which includes a Regular Pay option introduced earlier in March 2024.
The introduction of Singlife’s Limited Pay option comes as Singapore’s life insurance sector reports strong growth.
The Life Insurance Association (LIA) Singapore revealed that total weighted new business premiums reached S$2.77 billion for the first half of 2024, a 26.6% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
This growth was driven by both single-premium and annual premium plans. Single-premium policies, which require a one-time payment, saw a 32.9% increase, reaching S$918 million. Meanwhile, annual premium policies, which involve recurring payments, grew by 23.7%, totalling S$1.85 billion.
The life insurance sector has benefited from a stronger-than-expected economic recovery in Singapore during the second quarter of 2024.
Group life and health in-force premiums rose by 11% year-on-year to S$2.4 billion, while individual health insurance premiums grew by 7.1% in the same timeframe.
Financial adviser (FA) representatives contributed significantly to this growth, securing S$27.5 billion in sum assured, or 39.1% of the total. Tied representatives followed closely, accounting for S$24.3 billion, or 34.7%.
Demand for integrated shield plans (IPs), which provide hospital coverage, remained steady. By the end of June 2024, approximately 71,000 new IPs were issued, increasing the total number of lives covered by IPs to 2.9 million – about 71% of Singapore’s population.
The first half of 2024 also saw the life insurance sector disburse S$10.96 billion in payouts to policyholders and beneficiaries, an 82.8% increase from the same period in 2023. Of this, S$10.04 billion was paid for maturing policies, while S$927 million was for claims related to death, critical illness, or disability across more than 10,600 policies.
