THE PRE-NEED INDUSTRY saw its premium income inch up by 2.82% year on year at end-June amid higher plans sold.

The sector’s premium income stood at P11.49 billion as of June, up from P11.17 billion in the same period last year, according to Insurance Commission (IC) data based on the submissions of 13 licensed pre-need companies.

Its combined net income surged by 84.67% to P5.32 billion in the period from P2.88 billion a year prior, with only four companies posting losses.

The number of plans sold by pre-need firms in the first six months rose by 29.47% to 424,467 from 327,841 last year.

Bulk of the plans sold were life policies, which rose by 29.39% to 423,727.

Sales of pension plans jumped by 117.41% year on year to 687, while education plans sold rose by 47.22% to 53.

Meanwhile, the industry’s combined investment in trust funds increased by 9.39% year on year to P145.61 billion, IC data showed.

Pre-need reserves, which include benefit obligations or payables as mandated by the Pre-Need Code, went up by 2.97% to P128.99 billion in the period.

As a result, the difference between the combined trust funds and pre-need reserves of companies stood at a P16.61-billion surplus at end-June, 112.13% wider than the P7.83-billion surfeit a year prior, the report showed.

The pre-need industry’s combined net worth rose by 26.81% to P31.58 billion from P24.9 billion.

This was driven by the 54.25% increase in their retained earnings to P24.131 billion.

Meanwhile, pre-need companies’ combined capital stock dropped by 12.56% year on year to P3.5 billion, and other net worth accounts went down by 24.85% to P3.95 billion.

The sector’s total assets grew by 7.23% to P168.36 billion as of June from P157.02 billion a year prior.

Total liabilities likewise rose by 3.53% to P136.78 billion from P132.11 billion.

The IC’s report showed that St. Peter Life Plan, Inc. recorded the highest premium income in the period at P11.04 billion, followed by Philplans First, Inc. with P320.47 million, Cosmopolitan Climbs Life Plan, Inc. with P44.33 million, and GoldenFuture Life Plan, Inc. with P34.64 million.

In terms of sales, St. Peter Life Plan was also the top performer with 395,257 plans sold for a total contract price of P22.36 billion.

Goodlife Plans, Inc. placed second with 12,341 plans sold for a contract price of P494.03 million. Rounding out the top three was Freedomlife Plan Corp., which sold 12,242 plans with a total contract price of P448.8 million.

Lastly, in terms of net income, St. Peter Life Plan placed first with P4.69 billion, followed by Philplans First with P801.11 million and GoldenFuture Life Plan, Inc. with P15.33 million. — Aaron Michael C. Sy