Insurance Space

New premiums for individual life insurance fell 11% on an annual basis in the third quarter, according to Limra International Inc.’s sales survey report.

After seven straight years of considerable growth, Limra said that universal life premiums “are experiencing a significant decline in 2008,” the Windsor, Conn., trade group said Monday. Those premiums dropped 12% in the third quarter from a year earlier and 2% in the first three quarters of the year, according to the report.

Term sales are holding their own, Limra said; new premiums were flat in the third quarter and fell 1% for the first three quarters of the year.

The Singapore head of AIA, the life insurance unit of American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), quit on Thursday, the city-state’s central bank said.

The resignation came after widespread customers’ fears over AIG’s financial health led hundreds of policy-holders throng AIA’s office to redeem their policies this week. [ID:nSIN89325]

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a statement late Thursday it was notified that AIA Singapore’s executive vice-president and general manager Mark O’Dell resigned with immediate effect, and that there were no other changes to its management.

Market statistics for life insurance at the end of June 2008, released by the Investment Savings and Insurance Association, recorded an increase of 9.6% in the total premiums paid for inforce life policies from $1.35 billion to $1.48 billion over the past year.

Premiums paid on risk products, the largest product sector, recorded 11.9% growth from $1.135 billion to $1.27 billion for the year ended 30 June.

SBI Life Insurance, a joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and BNP Paribas Assurance, plans to foray into the West Asian market by the next financial year. The move is aimed at tapping the Indian diaspora in the region.

The insurance company is in talks with local partners for distributing its products. However, the exact model of operation is yet to be worked out.

In an interaction with Business Standard, SBI Life Insurance MD and CEO U S Roy said, “We are planning to foray into the West Asian market to tap the Indian expatriates. The exact model is yet to be worked out for distribution. However, we are working out the modalities and very soon an announcement will be made in this regard.”

Protective Life Insurance Co. has shifted half of the responsibility of its life insurance sales to the leader of its West Coast insurance operations.

Mark Rush, senior vice president for sales and marketing for Protective Life subsidiary West Coast Life Insurance Co., will be responsible for the life insurance sales teams serving both the West Coast Life and the Protective Life Independent Agent distribution networks.

Jeff Marsh, vice president of institutional life sales for Protective Life, will continue to lead the Institutional Life Sales teams and will take on leadership of the Birmingham-based firm’s advanced sales department. The move comes in the wake of Protective Life posting $35.8 million in net income in the first quarter of 2008, down from $90.6 million for the same period in 2007.

Insurance buyers are keeping away from unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) due to the continous volatility in the stock market.

The life insurance industry, which was growing over 100 per cent last year, registered a negative growth for the month of April this year, reporting a decline of 6.77 per cent. It gathered a new business premium of Rs 2,780.11 crore in April this year as against Rs 2,982.28 crore in April 2007.

Life Insurance Corporation of India continues to witness reduced demand from single premium Ulips. It collected a new business premium of Rs 1,247.89 crore in April this year as against Rs 2,134 crore in the corresponding period last year, a fall of 41.5 per cent in new sales.