Indonesia: Weakness in life insurance sector expected to continue for the rest of this year

| 07 Jul 2020

Indonesia's life insurance industry posted premium income of IDR44.1tn ($3.1bn) in the first quarter of this year, a 4.9% decrease compared to the corresponding quarter last year, according to the Indonesian Life Insurance Association (AAJI).

Total new business premiums in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to IDR25.9tn, down by 8.3% from the first quarter of 2019, reported Bisnis citing the AAJI data.

In addition, total assets of the industry also decreased by 5% to IDR509.6tn at 31 March 2020, from IDR536.7tn 12 months previously.

AAJI chairman Budi Tampubolon said, “What is clear is, 2020 is a year full of challenges."

"The impact of this pandemic is almost on all members of AAJI, regardless of the size of the company," he said.

He added that it was difficult to make projections for the life insurance industry for this year. AAJI estimates that the decline in the industry's performance, that is due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, could continue until the end of this year.

The number of people who had life insurance reached 63.97m by end-March 2020. The number represents a 20.3% increase over the 53.17m insured persons at end-March 2019, notes the AAJI.

The total number of life insurance policies recorded a 0.1% increase to 17.08m in the first quarter of 2020, up from 17.06m in the first quarter of 2019. The number of group life insurance policies, however, fell by 13.2% to 672,667 in the first quarter of 2020, from 774,824 in the corresponding period last year.

"The total number of group policies has decreased. This indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the Indonesian economy, resulting in a decline in new policy ownership in the corporate sector," Mr Budi said.


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