Funeral assurers net premiums up 7 percent

Funeral assurers recorded a seven percent increase in Net Premiums Written (NPW) in the nine months to September to $28.7 million, a report by the industry regulator has showed.

The Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) report showed that although most funeral companies recorded less business, the cumulative technical profit for the period increased by five percent to $4.866 million.

“In the period under review; the bulk of the business was concentrated on the top three funeral assurers namely Doves, Moonlight and First Funeral, who wrote 90 percent of the net premiums.”

Costs during the period under review grew by 7 percent.

Total assets increased by 22 percent to $60.294 million from $49.271 million reported for the same period last year on the back of investment in property and other funeral service related assets.

Cell, Foundation and Passion funeral assurers with capital (net assets) of $630 000; $861 000 and $1.121 million respectively were non-compliant with the minimum capital threshold of $1.5 million as at September 30, IPEC said.

IPEC also noted that only three funeral assurers — Doves, First Funeral and Moonlight — were capitalized above the proposed $2.5 million expected by December 31, 2017.

However, funeral assurers remained non-compliant with the prescribed asset requirement of 7.5 percent, with the average remaining below 1 percent. IPEC said it will continue to institute corrective measures until compliance is achieved.-The Source

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