General insurance sector posts $28m in underwriting loss for 2019

The top five segments accounted for a combined $43.4m underwriting loss.

Singapore’s general insurance sector posted an underwriting loss of $28m as the industry paid out 12.2% more or $159m in claims in 2019, according to the General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA).

The sector recorded a 7.6% annual growth in gross written premiums to $4.1b in the same year.

The top five segments—motor, health, property, employer’s liability, and travel—accounted for a combined underwriting loss of $43.4m.

The motor segment posted $1.12b in gross written premiums in 2019, a 1% increase from the previous year, with a 7.6% or $41.3m growth in total claims paid out. Overall underwriting loss came at $17.4m for the segment.

Last year saw a shift in vehicle ownership in Singapore with a spike in private-hire cars (PHCs). On the other hand, it meant that the sector was insuring a vehicle population with higher risk profiles as PHCs are more frequently driven on the road.

Meanwhile, the health insurance segment’s underwriting loss shrank to $11.2m in 2019, a 75% improvement from 2018’s $44.2m. Total claims pay-out for policyholders rose 8.1% or $22.6m whilst gross written premiums increased $666.8m.

Employers’ liability insurance segment recorded an 8.9% increase in gross written premiums, thanks to the continued growth of employment in the construction sector in 2019. Whilst the number of workplace fatalities fell to a record low last year, the sector paid $8.29m more in work injury compensation, reflecting the 5% growth in the number of non-fatal injuries.

The property insurance sector paid out 50% more or $24.3m in total claims with sustained growth in gross written premiums of $538.2m, albeit with an underwriting loss of $4m. This was brought about by an overall 7.8% increase in fire accidents particularly involving personal mobility devices.

Lastly, travel insurance’s gross written premiums rose 7.1% to $211.4m with an underwriting loss of $3.4m as total claims pay-out surged 20% to $65.1m. Personal accident insurance gross written premiums increased 2.6% to $176.8m, with an overall underwriting profit of $17.2m.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia