The Interest of the Insurance Society Has Rise Since the Pandemic, Manulife Indonesia Intensively Innovates Products and Services

Photo: Doc. Antara/Manulife Indonesia

JAKARTA - The insurance industry is considered to be starting to stretch as economic conditions gradually recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, so that it becomes an opportunity for life insurance companies to work on a market that is growing in a normal direction.

"We are aware that Indonesian people's interest in insurance has started to increase, especially since the pandemic. This can be seen from the results of the Manulife Asia Care 2020 survey which states that 72 percent of Indonesian respondents want to buy a new policy in the next six months," said Director & General Manager Agency PT. Manulife Indonesia Life Insurance Novita J Rumngangun in a statement quoted by Antara, Sunday, October 9.

According to her, throughout 2021, Manulife Indonesia achieved net insurance premium income of IDR 12.1 trillion, an increase of 42 percent compared to 2020.

The performance of new business premiums in 2021 grew 35 percent from the previous IDR 5.6 trillion to IDR 7.5 trillion, based on the Annualized Premium Equivalent.

Meanwhile, according to performance reports in 2021 from 58 member companies of the Indonesian Life Insurance Association (AAJI), the life insurance industry scored IDR 241.2 trillion in revenue, an increase of 12 percent.

Novita explained that Manulife continues to innovate products and services to meet the diverse financial needs of the community.

Including, equipping marketers with various digital platforms to make it easier for them to meet the needs of customers and the wider community. Especially in terms of ease of claim disbursement. Throughout 2021, Manulife Indonesia paid claims worth IDR 8.9 trillion.

Novita is optimistic that Manulife Indonesia's performance will be more positive considering Indonesia's economic condition. It is recorded that in 2019, Manulife Indonesia agents were 4.593 people, in 2020 it jumped to 5.978 people, and until September 2022, it had reached 8.589 agents.

The significant increase was in line with the target set at the beginning of the year, namely the addition of 7.777 new agents this year.

"Agents are noble professions. They don't just talk about business, or just closing until customers receive their policies. Agents or what we usually call Life Planners also contribute to improving the financial literacy of the Indonesian people, so they are more aware of future planning and finances," said Novita.

The need for agents is really necessary, especially since insurance penetration in Indonesia is only four percent of the population. In fact, the number of insurance agents is still minimal.