Insurance premiums may rise 16% this year

The Office of the Insurance Commission has forecast continued growth for the insurance sector this year with total insurance premiums of Bt660 billion, 16-per-cent growth year on year.

OIC secretary-general Pravej Ongartsittigul said yesterday that of the total, Bt449 billion in premiums would be from life insurance, up 18 per cent year on year, and disaster insurance Bt211 billion, up 15 per cent. The share of insurance premiums in GDP is expected to be 5.38 per cent.

Total insurance premiums last year were Bt569.903 billion, a 21.48-per-cent increase year on year, and the premium share to GDP was 5.02 per cent. Of the total, Bt390.474 billion was from life insurance, up 18.72 per cent, on rising confidence of consumers in insurance and the expansion of sales channels of insurance firms and the customisation of products to better serve the peoples' needs.

Ordinary life insurance witnessed the highest growth compared with other types at Bt329.665 billion, up 17.90 per cent. Whole life insurance enjoyed the highest market share of 48.34 per cent among all ordinary life insurance types.

Group life insurance earned premiums of Bt47.184 billion, up 31.53 per cent, personal accidence insurance Bt5.333 billion, up 9.62 per cent, and disaster insurance Bt179.429 billion, up 27.96 per cent.

Car insurance saw premiums of Bt103.874 billion, a growth of 24.77 per cent, because of 162.7-per-cent growth in car sales last year, driven by the first car scheme, which ended in December.

Miscellaneous insurance received premiums of Bt60.606 billion, rising 36.83 per cent, while that of fire insurance expanded 21.04 per cent to Bt9.759 billion.

Pravej said all these figures indicated that the insurance sector was healthy, and had recovered quickly after the flood disaster of 2011.