Singapore life insurers post 29% jump in Q1 2021 weighted new premiums

Single-premium products grew 85% QoQ in weighted premiums.

Singapore’s life insurance industry recorded a total of $942m (S$1.25b) in weighted new business premiums for Q12021, a 29% jump from Q1 2020, an announcement read.

This was in part triggered by strong sales in single-premium products, which are easy to understand and require no medical underwriting, making them ideal for online purchases, according to the Life Insurance Association (LIA). Single-premium products posted an 85% QoQ hike in weighted premiums to $408.3m (S$541.6m) in total.

Single-premium par and non-par products comprised 80% of all single-premium purchases whilst single-premium linked products made up the remaining 20%.

CPFIS-included products comprised 10% and cash-funded products took up 90%.

Annual premium products also recorded a 5% uptake from the same period last year, comprising $533.8m (S$708.2m) in total weighted annual premiums.

On the other hand, 20,000 more Singaporeans and Permanent Residents were covered by IPs and riders as at 31 March 2021, totalling 2.82 million or approximately 69% of Singapore residents protected by IPs and riders, which provide coverage on top of MediShield Life.

Total new business premiums for individual health insurance for Q1 reached $72.6m (S$96.3m). Overall, IPs and IP rider premiums took up 84% or $61.3 (S$81.3m), with the remaining 16% ($11.3m; S$15m) comprising other medical plans and riders.

Total in-force annual premiums for the group insurance business rose 16% to $1.22b (S$1.62b).

The number of new policies purchased online skyrocketed to 88,565 in Q1 2021 compared to 4,662 in Q1 2020.