Prudential books hefty growth in premium income and profit

Novia D. Rulistia ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 04/15/2008 11:37 AM  |  Business

Insurer PT Prudential Life Assurance (Prudential Indonesia), a subsidiary of London-based Prudential Plc, posted a 24 percent rise in profit in 2007 as premium income soared.

The company's total premium income reached Rp 5.5 trillion (about US$598 million), up 112 percent from Rp 2.6 trillion the previous year.

"Ninety percent of the premium income last year was from our unit-linked product, and the rest from our new sharia product valued at Rp 460 billion," president director Kevin Holmgren told reporters Monday.

Of the total premium income, Rp 3.6 trillion came from the collected premium of new clients and Rp 1.9 trillion from renewal, he said.

The premium income growth helped the company boost its net profit from Rp 517 billion in 2006 to Rp 642 billion last year.

Prudential's risk-based capital (RBC), a measure used to gauge an insurance firm's financial health, as of December 31 last year stood at 362 percent, well exceeding the 120 percent requirement set by the Finance Ministry.

Prudential Indonesia has six sales offices in Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya, Bandung, Denpasar and Semarang as well as 120 agency offices. The 13-year-old company has more than 471,000 customers throughout the country.

Its parent company, Prudential Plc, has more than 20 million customers worldwide and more than $530 billion under its management.

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