THE Philippine insurance industry saw its net income falling by 8.6 percent to P41.24 billion last year as the sector had to grapple with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Based on the 2020 Industry Performance Report uploaded by the Insurance Commission, the insurance sector’s net income last year dropped from P45.12 billion in 2019.
Premium income of the insurance industry in 2020 inched up by 1.18 percent to P308.25 billion from previous year’s P304.65 billion.
Benefit payments by the industry also sank by 12.38 percent to P98.49 billion from P112.4 billion a year ago.
Broken down, the life insurance sector suffered a double-digit drop of 16.41 percent in their net income to P30.2 billion from P36.13 billion in the previous year.
Meanwhile, the non-life insurance sector’s net income jumped by 65.81 percent to P5.64 billion from P3.4 billion posted in 2019.
The Mutual Benefit Associations (MBA) sector’s net income in 2020 slid to P5.39 billion, a 3.42-percent decline from P5.59 billion a year ago.
In terms of total premiums earned, the life insurance sector recorded a 5.9-percent growth to P247.72 billion from P233.92 billion in 2019.
Bulk of premiums earned last year by the sector came from the sale of variable life insurance products which translated into premium income of P183.24 billion. This was up by 7.7 percent compared to P170.13 billion in 2019. Premiums collected by the life insurance industry came from traditional life insurance products also slightly rose by 1.09 percent to P64.48 billion from the previous year’s P63.79 billion.
For the non-life insurance industry, net premiums written slipped by 16.17 percent to P49.31 billion from P58.82 billion in 2019.
The Insurance Commission also reported that the MBA sector posted a 5.72-percent drop in total contributions/premiums to P11.23 billion from P11.91 billion in 2019.
The local insurance industry’s net worth also dipped by 3.88 percent to P366.8 billion from P381.6 billion in 2019.
Life insurance sector also recorded an 11.53-percent drop in its net worth to P214.1 billion from P241.99 billion in the previous year.
On the other hand, the non-life insurance industry managed to post a 7.66-percent uptick in its net worth to P105.66 billion from P98.14 billion in 2019.
The MBA’s total fund balance last year also hit P47.04 billion, a 13.4-percent increase from P41.48 billion in 2019.
Total assets of the insurance industry last year stood at P1.93 trillion, higher by 8.11 percent from P1.78 trillion a year ago.
Insurance penetration or premium volume as a share of GDP last year also went up to 1.71 percent from 1.64 percent in 2019.