Bumiputera targets lower end of market

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)