Bumiputera targets lower end of market

JAKARTA (JP): Bumiputera 1912 Mutual Life Insurance (AJB Bumiputera 1912) hopes to sign up one million new policyholders in 2001, aiming at the largely untapped lower end of the market.

To meet the target, Bumiputera launched Asuransi Rakyat Indonesia (People's Insurance) scheme in January, offering a Rp 1 million insurance coverage for a monthly premium of Rp 500, Bumiputera president Suparyanto told a media briefing to mark the company's 89th anniversary on Saturday.

He said ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers and pedicab drivers were among those targeted for the new product.

Suparyanto predicted a 23 percent increase in Bumiputera's total revenue in 2001 to Rp 2.1 trillion ($221 million), comprising Rp 1.9 trillion in premium income and Rp 265 billion in investment earnings.

"We are optimistic despite the unstable political and economic situation," he said, adding "We have strong roots in the community."

Bumiputera, which has more than seven million individual and group policyholders, paid out Rp 1 trillion in claims in 2000, about the same it paid out the previous year, he said.

In 1998 at the height of the economic crisis, the company paid out Rp 2 trillion when many policyholders cashed in their savings and withdrew from the scheme.

Bumiputera has 450 offices nationwide, employing some 3,000 workers, and 16,500 agents. (03)