More people buying life insurance: Report

DEPOK (JP): Indonesia's life insurance industry is growing, with the number of policy holders rising 3.52 percent in 1995 to 18.4 million from 17.8 million in 1994, according to a report released yesterday.

The total sum insured by life insurance companies in Indonesia rose 32.26 percent in 1995 to Rp 61.24 trillion (US$26.08 billion) from Rp 46.30 trillion in 1994, according to the report.

The premium income of Indonesia's insurance companies increased 25.52 percent in 1995 to Rp 2.06 trillion from Rp 1.64 trillion in 1994.

The president of Indonesia's Bumiputera 1912 Mutual Life Insurance Co., Suratno Hadisuwito, presented the report at a Asia-Oceania Association (AOA) of mutual and cooperative insurance companies seminar in Depok, West Java.

The AOA and similar regional associations in Europe, America and Africa are an integral part of the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF).

Members of the AOA from China, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea are taking part in the four-day seminar.

Bumiputera 1912, the only mutual life insurance company in Indonesia, hosted the seminar.

Bumiputera 1912 told the seminar that its share of the national market for new products rose to 17.06 percent in 1995 from 14.14 percent in 1994.

Chief executive Suratno said the company's income from premiums rose 18.41 percent in 1995 to Rp 626 trillion from Rp 529 trillion in 1994.

The Ministry of Finance's director for insurance, Sophar L. Toruan, also attended the seminar.

He told The Jakarta Post: "The role of Indonesian life insurance companies in national development is still small because the number of policy holders in 1995 was only 10 percent of the population of 195 million."

The total investment derived from life insurance funds is now Rp 3.8 trillion, he said. (06)