Jasindo books hefty premium income

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned general insurance firm PT Asuransi Jasa Indonesia (Jasindo) said here on Thursday that its premium income reached Rp 872 billion (US$77.8 million) during the January to April period, and exceeded the whole year's target of Rp 730 billion.

Company president Amiruddin Riayat said the premium income booked during the four-month period jumped 320 percent from Rp 207 billion in the same period last year.

He attributed the surge in premium income to the company's underwriting contracts with several major corporate clients.

He said of the total premium income during the four-month period, Rp 777 billion came from corporate clients, which was far higher than the Rp 438 billion targeted for the entire year.

"Major contracts with several big companies, including Pasific Satelit Nusantara (PSN), PT Telkom, Garuda Indonesia Airways, Merpati Airlines, helped boost the company's revenue," he told a news briefing.

He said the Rp 360 billion contract to guarantee PSN satellite Garuda-1, which was launched last year, was the biggest deal made during the January to April period.

However, he was reluctant to provide any details on the other contracts.

Amiruddin said the firm's revenues from individual clients during the period also increased by 58 percent to Rp 46 billion from Rp 29 billion in the same period of last year, while its reinsurance revenue rose 30 percent to 49 billion from Rp 38 billion.

"It's also reflecting that we're good enough to reach policyholders from the retail market," he said.

Jasindo, which has had experience in corporate insurance for 31 years, will give more attention to the retail insurance market.

As part of its plan, the company will establish eight more sales offices by the end of this year, including those in West Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan, Amiruddin said.

The company has invested between Rp 150 million and Rp 180 million for each office, and in return, it expects each office to gain between Rp 350 million and Rp 700 million a year, he said.

This week, the company opened six new sales offices in Langsa, Aceh, Dumai, Riau, Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, Bandarjaya, South Sumatra, Parepare, South Sulawesi and Gorontalo, North Sulawesi.

In total, the company has 62 branches and sales offices in the country and one overseas branch in Labuan, Malaysia.

The company's revenue increased by 1.5 percent to Rp 618.6 billion last year from Rp 608.3 billion in 1999, while its net profit rose 5 percent to 60.9 billion, compared to Rp 57.9 billion.

Its total assets last year stood at Rp 842 billion from Rp 746 billion in 1998, the company said.(05)