Fitch Ratings report highlights stability of Thailand’s life insurance industry despite natural disasters
A new report from Fitch Ratings, a global rating agency, suggests that the Thailand life insurance sector will see healthy premium growth well into 2013. This growth is being attributed to growing population affluence and increase awareness and protection in the wake of recent natural disasters. Thailand has been battered by a wide range of catastrophe’s the most costly of which was a recent flood that caused severe disruptions in global supply chain for numerous industries. These catastrophes could have made the country’s insurance sectors unstable, but this is not the case, according to Fitch Ratings.
The report from Fitch Ratings shows that Thailand’s life insurance sector is stable for the next 12 to 24 months. The sector is expected to receive a great deal of support from steady premium growth and capitalization. Conservative investments will help insurers remain stable for the foreseeable future, even despite the impact of the 2011 Thai floods, as well as those that inundated the country earlier this year. Though the impact of these floods produced losses for the property insurance sector, there were relatively few casualties.
Life insurance industry grew 17% in first seven months on 2012
Fitch Ratings notes that the Thai life insurance industry grew by 17% in the first seven months of 2012. Though the industry continues to report strong results, it is still smaller and boasts of lower levels of penetration than those in other Asian countries. Fitch Ratings notes that the strong performance of the industry this year shows that it has the capability to grow and certainly has enough room in the market to do so.
Consumers becoming more economically capable
Thailand’s economy is growing, providing consumers with more options concerning the types of products they want and the insurance protection that is available to them. As consumers become more able to support themselves financially, they are turning to the life insurance sector to secure the stability of their families if they should fall victim to a natural disaster. This increased affluence is expected to further boost the growth of the life insurance sector.
