Life Update Malaysia

The life insurance industry remained steady in the first half of 2015 despite the challenging business environment, with new business weighted premiums declining only marginally, said the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM).

According to LIAM, new business weighted premiums (100% of regular premiums plus 10% of single premiums) slipped by 0.7% to RM2.024 billion from RM2.040 billion achieved in the same
period last year.

This increase in protection is contributed by investment-linked plans, which experienced a growth of 9.6% and traditional plans with a growth of 3.5%. Toi attributed the growth in insurance coverage to the increase in consumer awareness.

According to a study commissioned by LIAM and undertaken by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, the protection gap or underinsurance gap remains huge in Malaysia whereby the average protection gap for families whose primary wage earner does not have life insurance protection is RM723,000 per family. The amount is the estimated sum needed for the family of the wage earner to sustain their current lifestyle for at least five years on the demise of the wage earner.