Singapore life insurance contracts by 1.9% YoY in H1 2022

New business premiums hit $2.63b.

Singapore’s life insurance industry contracted by 1.9% year-on-year (YoY) in terms of new business premiums to $2.63b in the first half of the year, according to the latest industry results released by the Life Insurance Association, Singapore. (LIA Singapore).

Single-premium products recorded a 12.5% YoY increase in weighted premiums amounting to $1.44b for H1 2022. CPFIS-included products comprised 2.6%, and cash-funded products accounted for the remaining 97.4%. Meanwhile, uptake of annual premium products recorded a reduction of 15.1% from the same period last year, amounting to $1.19b in total weighted annual premiums.

LIA Singapore also observed increased interest in purchasing insurance policies online. Online purchases of new policies more than doubled, increasing from 203,351 in H1 2021 to 430,725 in H1 2022. These are purchases transacted online by customers without a financial advisor.

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These online purchases totaled $66mn in weighted premiums, accounting for 2.5% of the total weighted premiums for H1 2022.

Integrated Shield Plans

Individual health insurance new business premiums totaled $155.9m. Integrated Shield Plans (IP) and IP rider premiums accounted for 83.5% ($130.2m) and the remaining 16.5% ($25.7m) comprised other medical plans and riders of the overall new business premiums in individual health insurance.

About twenty thousand more Singaporeans and Permanent Residents were covered by IPs from the same time a year ago. In total, 2.87 million lives – approximately 70% of Singapore residents – are protected by IPs, which provide coverage on top of MediShield Life.

The life insurance industry paid out $5.92b in claims for H1 2022.