Sewu launches new life insurance schemes

JAKARTA (JP): Sewu New York Life has launched two new life insurance schemes -- Sewu New York Life 2000 and Sewu New York Life Grand 2000 -- hoping to increase its total premium income by 25 percent, the company's president C. Donald Carden said.

At the launch of the two new products here yesterday, Carden said that the life insurance schemes would give protection right after prospective policy holders paid the first premium.

"Our life insurance schemes are different. Usually life insurance companies only protect clients after they secure a policy," he said.

He said that prospective clients could also choose how long they wanted to pay premiums for, from a minimum five years to 20 years.

"Our company will continue giving protection to our clients after they get coverage payments," he said.

He said the schemes would cover policy holders until they turned 100 years old.

Unlike other life insurance schemes, Sewu will pay dividends to policy holders after three years.

Sewu New York Life's director of finance, Tatang Widjaja, said that this year his company expected to book a total premium income of Rp 127 billion (US$52.92 million), up 48 percent from last year.

About 25 percent the premium income will come from the new life insurance schemes, which carry different premiums.

He said the company's total assets would rise by more than 100 percent to about Rp 200 billion this year.

Tatang said that Sewu New York Life, which was 51 percent owned by New York Life of the U.S., and 49 percent by Gunung Sewu Kencana of the Sewu Group, expected to book a total net profit of Rp 5.24 billion this year, a 94 percent increase over last year.

He said that until May 31, his company's premium income was Rp 42.5 billion, an increase of 42 percent over the same period last year. (bnt)