Pakistan: Too few life insurers cited as reason for low penetration rate
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Oct 2017
Pakistan Life & Health Agents/Advisors
Life insurance penetration in Pakistan is low and one reason for this is the existence of a very small number of life insurance players in the market, suggested Mr Faisal Abbasi, CEO of TPL Life Insurance.
“My back-of-the-envelope calculations show that there is one life insurance company for every two crore people in the country,” he told BR Research.
Pakistan has a population of around 210 million people. According to the website of the financial regulator, Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, there are nine life insurers in the country. The low insurance penetration rate is also due to poor public awareness, he said.
Nevertheless, the penetration rate increased to 0.56% at present from 0.35% seven years ago, with the growth largely generated through bancassurance, Mr Abbasi said. A