BMI's Executive Summary for the Philippines Insurance Report

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This report differs from its predecessors in that it includes BMI's Insurance Business Environment Rating (IBER). The rating brings together a number of pieces of relevant quantitative data, together with BMI's Country Risk Rating (CRR). It is now much easier to consider the business environment for the insurance sector in any one country relative to the business environment for other industries in that country that are surveyed by BMI, and the business environment for the insurance sector in other countries.

The Philippines IBER is 51.4. Relative to other countries in the Asia Pacific it is a medium-sized market, although much less-developed than it immediate neighbours. Regionally it equates to Indonesia in terms of penetration and density. Its IBER is significantly held back by a heavy bureaucratic and tax burden in a generally unhelpful regulatory environment. The Philippines stands out for its highly fragmented insurance market.

Over the forecast period, we anticipate that non-life premiums will grow by 20% annually in local currency terms and by 10% in US$ terms. Life premiums are expected to increase by 6% annually in local currency terms and by 9% in US$ terms. The key drivers of growth in the non-life segment in 2007-2012 are the anticipated rise in nominal GDP from around US$141.4bn to US$196.9bn. Nevertheless in nonlife penetration from is expected to be sluggish from around 0.65% to 0.75% of GDP. Life penetration is likely to perform even worse rising from 0.85% to 0.94% over the period. However, life density is expected to be the key driver of growth with the envisaged rise from a miniscule US$14.02 per capita in 2007 to US$20 per capita in 2012. The Philippines' total population is growing slowly.

The competitive landscape, in both the non-life and the life segment, is extremely fragmented by any comparison. Both segments are open to participation by foreign groups and these have been prepared to overlook the challenges of doing business in the Philippines, possibly because their ability to insure offshore against risks inn the country give them an advantage over local groups.

The Philippines insurance sector has relatively few barriers to entry and has tried and tested strong brands that have weathered many adverse conditions in the market over the year. It is, however, extremely fragmented in both in the life and non-life segments.

Perhaps the most significant obstacle the industry faces is the heavy tax burden put on premiums which erodes corporate profit margins and discourages new customers. Combined with this, the economy is expected to continue a slowdown and there are ongoing security and stability concerns in the country. Nothwithstanding these negatives, with low penetration rates there is obviously room for growth should other issues be successfully dealt with.

Contents of the Philippines Insurance Report

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Chapter 1 - The Sector At A Glance

Table: Overview

Key Features Of This Report & Likely Future Changes

Chapter 2 - Latest News

Recent Developments

Chapter 3 - Evolution Since The Mid-1990s

Table: Evolution of the Insurance Sector (in millions of currency specified)

Evolution

Chapter 4 - Projections And Forecasts

Table: BMI Projections (in millions of currency specified)

Table: Drivers of Growth

Projections And Drivers Of Growth

Chapter 5 - Macroeconomic Outlook

Table: Bahrain - Economic Activity

Chapter 6 - Country Update

Political Risk Al-Wefaq To Gain In Elections

Economic Risk Spending Rises

Business Environment Labour Reforms

Chapter 7 - Analysis of Competitive Conditions

How to read the tables

Table: Non-Life Segment Rankings of Markets

Table: Presence Of Cross-Border Insurers Non-Life

Table: Selected Local Non-Life Insurers

Table: Life Segment Rankings of Markets

Table: Presence Of Cross-Border Insurers Life

Table: Selected Local Life Insurers

Chapter 8 - Regional Context

Table: Regional Context premiums

Table: Regional Context Total premiums

Chapter 9 - Methodology And Objectives

Introduction

Background

Forecasts

Chapter 10 - Appendix

Table: Latest Estimates / Actual Figures For 2005

Table: Latest Estimates For 2010

Table: Latest Estimates For 2005-2010

Competitive Landscape for Asia Insurance Reports: Sample of
    Companies Ranked

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A cross-border overview of key players and their insurance market share across Asia. Tables and graphs show country presence of multinationals across the region. Comparative company analyses and rankings by premium income (life and non-life). Company SWOTS for leading life and non-life insurers, covering network of offices, presence of foreign stakeholders, strategic relationships, joint ventures; portfolio of clients; diversity of product range; profit growth, investment strategy and risk exposure.

Network of Insurance Sources

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BMI's Asian Insurance Reports are based on an extensive network of multilateral organisations, government departments, insurance industry associations, chambers of commerce and company reports. Information sources include:

Read about our other Insurance Reports