SNYL expects 40% growth

Insurance company PT Asuransi Jiwa Sewu New York Life (SNYL) said it expected its new individual sales to grow by 40 percent this year amid the growing demand for life insurance.

The company booked Rp 96 billion in first-year premium income in 1999, a 85 percent increase from Rp 52 billion in 1998.

"Sewu New York Life has just had a tremendous year," Gary Benanav, (second right) the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of New York Life International, said on Saturday at a news conference.

"We are optimistic about the Indonesian life insurance industry. By looking at the amount of money people have spent on insurance policies, I believe that Indonesia is showing a rapid growth of insurance as one course of their financial planning," SNYL president C. Donald Carden (second left) said.

SNYL is a joint venture between New York Life International of the United States and local firm PT Gunung Sewu Kencana.

The company said it had 65,000 individual policyholders and Rp 400 billion in investable assets in 1999. (07)