Bumiputera's premium hits Rp 758b in '96

Bumiputera's premium hits Rp 758b in '96

JAKARTA (JP): Life insurance firm Bumiputera's premium income
jumped 20 percent to Rp 758 billion (US$321 million) last year,
the company said yesterday.

"We expect to increase the premium incomes to Rp 1 trillion
this year," president director Suratno Hadisuwito said at a
ceremony marking the company's 85th anniversary making it
Indonesia's oldest life insurance firm.

Bumiputera paid Rp 330 billion in claims last year, up from Rp
271 billion in 1995.

Bumiputera's assets were worth Rp 1.7 trillion as of last
year, up from Rp 1.5 trillion the year before. The company's held
Rp 15.9 trillion in policies last year, up from 12.6 trillion the
year before.

The company got 1.2 new policy holders last year, bringing the
figure to 4.5 million. These include a million individual policy
holders and 3.5 million group policy holders.

Bumiputera said the company had 30 branches in Indonesia, 616
service offices, 19,302 agents and 2,987 employees.

Suratno said Indonesia was potentially a big market for life
insurance business because only 9 percent of Indonesia's 200
million people had policies.

About 56 companies, including 17 joint ventures between
domestic and foreign firms, were competing in the life insurance
industry, he said. (jsk)