Indonesia Insurance Income Growth Premium Decline 2025

Indonesia's life insurance industry recorded steady growth in coverage and income in the first nine months of 2025, despite a slight decline in premiums, according to the Indonesian Life Insurance Association (AAJI).

AAJI data from 56 life insurers showed the number of insured persons reached 151.56 million as of September 2025, up 12.8% year on year. AAJI claim the increase reflects rising public awareness of the need for long-term financial protection.

Both individual and group segments expanded. Individual policyholders rose 16.9% to 22.32 million, whilst group insured lives increased 12.1% to 129.25 million. Total industry income grew 3.2% to $10.28b (Rp174.21t) in January–September 2025.

Premium income, however, edged down 1.1% to $7.86b (Rp133.22t) due to a fall in single-premium sales as household purchasing power continued to recover.

AAJI said regular premiums remained resilient, rising 5% to $4.90b (Rp83.04t), indicating that consumers are shifting towards more affordable periodic payment products.

Insurance Scam, Tawau, Malaysia

A total of 80 individuals, including 78 Chinese nationals, were charged in the Magistrate’s Court here on Wednesday with jointly engaging in a criminal conspiracy to deceive victims in an insurance scam last week.

According to the charge, the group, which also includes one Laotian and one Myanmar national, allegedly conspired to deceive victims through phone and video calls while impersonating police officers from China, with the offence said to have been committed at a premises in the district at 9.25pm on April 7, 2026.

The offence, framed under Section 420 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 120B(2) read together with Section 34 of the same Code, carries a penalty of up to six months’ imprisonment, a fine, or both upon conviction.

The court allowed bail at RM3,500 each with two local sureties, while 23 of the accused were separately charged in the Sessions Court with immigration offences committed at the same time, where they pleaded not guilty and were denied bail, with the case fixed for mention on May 25.

Malaysia RESET Medical & Health Insurance

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is advancing a new base medical and health insurance/takaful (MHIT) plan under its RESET reform agenda, introducing the standardized product as part of broader efforts to manage private health financing pressures. 

The average cost of medical benefits worldwide is expected to rise by 10.3% next year, following increases of 10% in 2025 and 9.5% in 2024. Asia-Pacific is forecast to record the steepest regional increase at 14% in 2026, up from 13.2% in 2025 and 11.8% in 2024, ahead of Latin America, North America, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Within this environment, BNM is using RESET and the base MHIT plan to respond to affordability concerns, medical inflation, and coverage gaps in Malaysia’s private health insurance and takaful markets.

Focus on affordability, sustainability, and system linkages
Three main recurring themes: premium affordability, long-term sustainability, and the interaction between reforms in health delivery and insurance. 

RESET aims to simplify products and realign incentives
RESET is described as a multi-year program to simplify medical products, increase price transparency, and better align incentives across the healthcare financing chain. The initiative is intended to make private cover easier to understand and more predictable, while supporting its interaction with the public system. 

Insurers Outsource Fund Management

Insurance asset managers in Singapore are increasingly planning to outsource fund management to external experts, showed a study by Clearwater Analytics. The move comes amid growing demand for greater portfolio control and transparency, as insurers navigate more complex investment environments.

Among the 50 Singapore insurance asset managers surveyed, 63 per cent or nearly two-thirds said that they expect to shift more assets to external managers, while 26 per cent foresee a greater share being managed in-house. Only 11 per cent believe that the balance between internally and externally managed assets will remain unchanged.

All respondents surveyed have delegated some portion of their funds to external managers, with the percentage of externally managed funds ranging from 24 to 45 per cent. On average, Singapore insurance asset managers have 34 per cent of their funds managed externally.

Notably, the need for greater control over investment portfolios was the top reason cited by insurance asset managers in the Republic for the shift towards outsourcing fund management, said the study.

This was followed by the need for transparency and reporting. Other factors, such as increased visibility of investment portfolios, and the improved reputation and increased acceptance of using external managers, followed closely as reasons for this shift.
ith data-management challenges set to intensify, 84 per cent of the Singapore respondents plan to increase the diversification of their investments across a wider range of asset classes over the next three years, noted the study. In line with this, average private-market allocations are expected to grow from 20 per cent to 36 per cent of holdings in five years.

As firms seek managers with the required expertise to manage the asset classes they invest in, this should lead to an increase in the outsourcing of portfolio management. It will also result in more data in varied formats and an increasing difficulty in accessing information.

As these trends heighten operational pressures and reshape talent strategies, here were “significant skills and capability gaps” within investment management functions.

The study noted that the top strategies to combat these issues included recruiting people from a broader range of sectors or with a greater diversity of perspectives, hiring more specialists in risk-management roles and adding new tools or platforms to compensate for system deficiencies.

Transferring more risk-management analysis away from spreadsheets and other manual processes, as well as outsourcing more to third parties, were also among the top strategies for addressing these problems.

AIA Share Buyback

Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group on Thursday (Mar 19) announced a new share buyback program of US$1.7 billion and achieved a record value of new business (VONB) in 2025, propelled by the resilient performance of all of its segments.

The firm reported a 15 per cent rise in VONB, which gauges expected profits from new premiums and is a key barometer for future growth, to US$5.52 billion on a constant currency basis for the year ended Dec 31, compared to US$4.71 billion in the year-ago period.

Hong Kong, one of AIA’s largest contributors in terms of profit, logged a 28 per cent increase in VONB for the year on the back of strong demand from both domestic customers and mainland Chinese visitors.

The firm also bore fruit from commencing operations in additional provinces of mainland China as it recorded double-digit VONB growth in the majority of the markets.

Mainland China, AIA’s second-largest market in terms of new sales, reported a 2 per cent hike in VONB. Besides those, AIA’s 18 markets in Asia include Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and South Korea.

AIA Thailand logged a 13 per cent rise in VONB to US$993 million for 2025, riding on strong distribution and continued investment in digital tools. The segment also reported an operating profit before tax of US$1.21 billion, placing it as the third-most profitable region behind Hong Kong and mainland China.

AIA - 2025 Record Results

The largest pan-Asian life and health insurer, AIA Group, has reported record results in 2025 with double-digit growth across key financial metrics for new business value, earnings and cash generation.

The details are as follows (with growth rates shown on a constant exchange rate basis unless otherwise indicated):

New business performance and embedded value

• Value of new business (VONB) increased by 15% to $5,516m

• Operating ROEV of 15.8%, up by 90 basis points

• EV Equity of $79.7bn, up by 14% per share on an actual exchange rate basis

IFRS earnings

• Operating profit after tax (OPAT) of $7,136m, up 12% per share

• Confident in meeting or exceeding OPAT per share CAGR target of 9 to 11 % from 2023 to 2026

• Operating ROE of 15.5%, up 70 basis points

Free surplus generation and capital

• Underlying free surplus generation (UFSG) of $6,765m, up by 11% per share

• Net free surplus generation (net FSG) up by 14% per share to $4,451m after new business investment

• Shareholder capital ratio of 221% at 31 December 2025

Dividends and share buy-backs

• Final dividend increased by 10% to 144.08 Hong Kong cents (18.40 US cents) per share

• Total dividend of 193.08 Hong Kong cents per share, up 10 %

• New $1.7bn share buy-back.

The group has a presence in 18 markets – wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Vietnam, Brunei and Macau, and a 49% joint venture in India. In addition, AIA has a 24.99% shareholding in China Post Life Insurance.

Price Range For Private Healthcare Services

Malaysia’s insurance and takaful sector has introduced reference price ranges for common private healthcare services and expanded a multistakeholder committee on medical claims. The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM), Malaysian Takaful Association (MTA), and General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) have jointly released a “Reference Guide on Price Ranges for Common Private Healthcare Services in Malaysia,” available on their respective websites from Jan. 22.

Industry publishes reference ranges for private healthcare costs
Drawing on insurance and takaful claims data for 2024, the guide sets out indicative price ranges commonly charged by private healthcare providers for frequently used services. According to the associations, it is intended as an informational resource to help consumers better understand typical treatment costs, discuss fees with providers, and plan for possible out-of-pocket expenses. 

The industry has emphasized that the ranges are not fixed, regulated, or recommended prices. Actual charges will continue to vary depending on the patient’s medical condition, treatment complexity, and individual provider practices. 

Committee extends role in medical claims governance
Alongside the publication of the pricing guide, industry participants have broadened the role of the Healthcare Partners Protocol & Solutions Committee (HPPSC), a multistakeholder forum previously known as the Grievance Mechanism Committee, to focus on medical claims protocols and operational issues in Malaysia’s private healthcare financing ecosystem. 

The HPPSC serves as a platform for insurers, takaful operators, third-party administrators, private hospitals, and medical professional bodies, with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) participating as observers. It is co-chaired by representatives from the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and LIAM, with support from PIAM and MTA. 

The committee’s mandate covers the co-development of claims protocols, review of systemic issues related to guarantee letter processes, and consideration of guidance intended to support fair treatment of policyholders and ethical patient management. Issues are channelled through medical organisations and industry associations and discussed with the aim of reaching commonly understood operating approaches.