Life insurance company PT Manulife Indonesia announced Wednesday its total insurance premiums grew by 88 percent last year to Rp 767 billion from Rp 419 billion in 2006, gaining from new distribution channels.

The growth was remarkable, president director David Beynon said, considering the industry as a whole was growing at a rate of 25 to 30 percent.

"We have reinforced the sales distribution channel through our 10 bank partners in 2007, which contributed to about 60 percent of the total premium income last year," Beynon said.

Among the major contributors, Beynon said, were Danamon Bank, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and DBS Bank.

In the future, he said, apart from the expansion of channel distribution strategies through banks, the company would also strengthen its agents' performances.

The company has around 3,800 premium sales agents, 85 percent of which are licensed.

In terms of customer loyalty, Beynon said, the total income from premium renewals grew by 25 percent from Rp 1.35 trillion in 2006 to Rp 1.68 trillion in 2007.

A member of the Canadian Manulife group, Manulife Indonesia operates three businesses, offering life insurance, mutual funds and employee benefits products, serving more than 1.7 million customers through 100 branches in 24 cities.

Completing the overall company's 2007 performance report, Beynon also said the company's total assets under management grew by 66 percent in 2007 over the full year period of 2006, from Rp 10.1 trillion to Rp 16.8 trillion.

The compiled total revenue growth taken from the three businesses within the organization was 115 percent, from Rp 4.8 trillion to Rp 10.4 trillion in 2007.

"This performance of life insurance and total company revenues breaks the record as this has never been achieved before by any insurance company," Beynon said.

The company also launched another investment option, sharia funds, last July.

Under sharia principles, banks are prohibited from charging interest on savings and lending. They instead base their business on a profit-sharing mechanism.

The target income of the sharia fund exceeded Rp 20 billion in six months.

"We will then launch sharia insurance possibly by the end of this year, as we see a potential 4 million Indonesian people would invest their money in this type of insurance," Beynon said. (rff)

Popular

Java airports grounded by low demand, poor planning

Trump says Indonesia to face 19 percent tariff under trade deal

ASML warns it may not achieve growth in 2026, shares drop