Life Insurance policies to top Rs 50b by year's end

The Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) estimates that the value of Life insurance polices may increase to Rs.50 billion by the end of year. It was at Rs. 43 billion last year.

"Ninety two percent of Life Insurance policies are channelled by insurance advisers and the estimated number of insurance advisers is over 43,000," Director General, IBSL, Damayanthi Fernando told the launch of Life Insurance Month organized by Insurance Association of Sri Lanka (IASL).

The life insurance market is highly under-penetrated with total life insurance premium to Gross Domestic Product ratio standing at only 0.46% in 2014. According to statistics only 12.6% of Sri Lankans are protected with life insurance. Among the working class this is at 29.6% and is a long way from the industry goal of insuring every person in Sri Lanka. However, the outlook of officials was positive as the number of policyholders is set to rise while Sri Lanka reaches its economic development goal of a per capita income of $ 5,000. One of the main challenges faced by life insurance policy advisers is the lack of knowledge among customers of the benefits of life insurance. Therefore, a goal has also been set to visit one million

potential customers during September.

This goal can be reached if each of the 43,000 life insurance policy advisers visit five potential customers a day, she said. However, to bring about this result the industry would have to change the perception of insurance as people fail to understand its value as they do not consider the possibility of something bad happening to them, she said.

President, IASL, Dirk Pereira said that the Life Insurance Month which ends on September 30 is a joint initiative by all insurance companies to woo more policyholders.

"The campaign will also address issues which will have a long-term positive impact not only on the industry, but for the country as a whole," he said. Marketing and Sales Forum Chairman, IASL, Samitha Hemachandra said the coming together of life insurance advisers from all companies for the common cause of improving awareness in the market regarding the value of life insurance is a noteworthy development for the industry.

- RJ