Higher premium collections fatten insurance sector Q3 profits

The insurance industry reported a 9.38-percent bottom-line growth in the third quarter, as higher premium collection by both life and nonlife insurance firms offset the lackluster performance of mutual benefit associations (MBAs).

Net income of the sector amounted to P38.28 billion in the July-September period, higher than the P35 billion recorded a year ago, latest data from the Insurance Commission (IC) showed.

The IC attributed the growth to the increase in premium collection of life and nonlife insurance firms.

Broken down, life insurance companies netted P28.79 billion, up 10.32 percent year-on-year. These firms collected total premiums amounting to P229.89 billion as of the third quarter, P46.57 billion of which was generated from new policies sold, up 32.72 percent.

Earnings of nonlife insurance firms, meanwhile, jumped 14.99 percent to P5.48 billion on the back of a 15.56-percent surge in total net premiums to P48.21 billion as of the third quarter.

That performance picked up the slack from lower profits of MBAs, which sagged 3.05 percent to P4.01 billion in the third quarter after total underwriting expenses significantly bloated year-on-year by 32.72 percent to P9.64 billion.

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Nevertheless, figures showed MBAs registered total contributions amounting to P11.5 billion, up 7.43 percent.

Overall, the industry’s healthy financial performance helped it grow its total assets and net worth by almost 10 percent year-on-year to P2.23 trillion and P450.15 billion, respectively.At the same time, total invested assets grew 14.96 percent to P1.99 trillion. INQ