Page 48 - Digital Edition SIRC Supplement

MARKET REPORT - SINGAPORE
agreed on by member countries, we are confident these areas
will see necessary liberalisation, particularly MAT insurance,
which member states have agreed in-principle to liberalise.
Robust underwriting performance
In a testament to the fit form of our business, the Singapore
general insurance industry delivered a robust underwriting
result in 2014, posting a 37.4% increase to S$391.7 million
(US$275.4 million) in its underwriting performance over
2013. This was thanks in large part to the more than 500%
surge in underwriting profit of Work Injury Compensation
(WIC) insurance.
Meanwhile, total gross premiums and total net earned
premiums registered modest growths. Total net earned
premiums grew 3.1% y-o-y to S$2.6 billion, while total gross
premiums went up 1.1% to S$3.53 billion.
For the sixth year in a row, the general insurance industry
trimmed its incurred loss ratio in 2014. It successfully cut its
loss ratio by 4.8 percentage points to 48.4%, significantly higher
than the reduction seen the previous year.
Mixed result for 1H 2015
For 2015, total gross premiums have so far grown slimly. As
of end-June 2015, gross premiums stood at S$1.9 billion, up
by 0.65% over the same period in 2014. On the other hand, net
earned premiums went down by 6.75% from S$1.3 billion in
2014 to S$1.2 billion this year. Meanwhile underwriting profit
inched up by 2.71% to S$144 million from S$140.3 million in
the first half of 2014.
Looking at the major classes of business, Health insurance
made the biggest leap in gross premiums to post S$253.7
million, growing by 15.65% over the first half of 2014. It
jumped back into profit after a loss of S$3.3 million in the first foster greater knowledge sharing and continuous learning in our
half of 2014, delivering an underwriting profit of S$9.4 million.
Hull came in second to Health in gross premium result,
with 13.71% growth to S$80.6 million. It suffered another
underwriting upset though, with an underwriting loss of
S$89,000. Nonetheless, this was already an improvement from
the S$6.3 million underwriting loss that it posted in the first
half of 2014.
Personal Accident insurance made a stable increase of
6.20% in gross premiums to deliver S$184.6 million in the
first half of 2015, following its strong performance in 2014. It
suffered a setback in its profit though, with its underwriting
profit falling by 51.07% to S$12.5 million over the first half
of the previous year.
46 SIRC Supplement • November 2015 • www.asiainsurancereview.com
Fire insurance also made some growth of 3.47% in gross
premiums to deliver S$215.6 million, but its underwriting
result suffered significantly after a robust performance in 2014.
Underwriting profit was down by almost 50% from S$15.9
million in the first half of 2014.
Motor insurance suffered a decline of 5.45% in its gross
premiums to deliver S$612.8 million, following a decrease in
premiums in 2014. Nonetheless, its underwriting profit surged
by 34.60% to S$59.5 million, keeping on with its strong profit
performance in 2014.
Like Motor insurance, the industry’s second biggest class
of business, WIC, saw a slight decline of 1.94% in its gross
premiums to S$219.3 million from S$223.6 million in the
same period of 2014. But it continued its robust underwriting
performance profit-wise in 2014 by delivering an increase of
84.95% to S$7.1 million in the first half of 2015.
Cargo insurance suffered the biggest decrease—at
14.30%—in premiums among the major classes of business,
registering S$46.2 million in gross premiums. Likewise, it
experienced another blow to its underwriting profit after a
decline in 2014. Underwriting profit tumbled by 32.33% to
S$8.4 million in the first half of 2015.
Strengthening our industry
Moving forward, we will continue to strengthen the Singapore
general insurance industry as a business, as a service provider,
and as a member of regional communities such as the AEC.
Besides our key areas of work for the industry, we have
embarked on new initiatives catering to segments outside our
major, compulsory segments. We have, for example, launched
educational seminars on property and actuarial practice to
industry. We have also made it a priority to expand our work
in consumer education, with a particular focus on motor and
travel insurance, as well as in growing the talent pool available
for our insurers. We will keep up our work in these areas and
build on them in order to be more inclusive in our efforts to
lead the further development of our industry.
Regionally, we will step up our cooperative efforts with
our counterparts in ASEAN to ensure a smooth and timely
integration of the insurance markets in the region. We will work
towards ensuring all ASEAN insurance markets benefit from
the integration by initiating and participating in collaborative
activities, such as in the areas of knowledge and technology
transfer, and working for the liberalisation of areas that will
benefit our industry and economies.
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