Income from premium by the insurance companies in Bangladesh registered a 23.30 per cent growth in 2005 calendar year over that of the previous year. This was disclosed in the Annual Report of the Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) released on December 21.

According to the report, the total premium earnings of both private and public-sector insurance companies reached Tk 28.43 billion in 2005 compared to nearly Tk 23.06 billion in 2004. Of the total, the premium income of the private sector insurance companies increased by 30.70 per cent to Tk 18.41 billion in 2005 compared to Tk 14.09 billion in 2004.

General insurance companies under the private sector earned over Tk 7.09 billion in 2005, which was 14.06 per cent higher in comparison with Tk 6.22 billion in 2004. On the other hand, the income from insurance premium of state-run Jiban Bima Corporation (JBC)-the state owned life insurance company, increased by 3.38 per cent to around Tk 2.04 billion in 2005 compared to Tk 1.97 billion in the previous year.

The government-owned general insurance company, Shadharan Bima Corporation (SBC) also posted a 13.80 per cent growth in its premium earnings totalling at Tk 886.13 million in 2005 against Tk 778.65 million in 2004. “Rise in the premium income of private sector life insurance business – both in first year and renewal premium – was due to expansion of life business in the country through introduction of micro insurance policies like Shujan Khudra Bima, Group Bima and Wage Earners’ Group insurance scheme”.

According to the report, the total investment by the private sector life insurance companies increased by 26.90 per cent to Tk 30.57 billion in 2005 from Tk 24.09 billion in 2004. The investments of private general insurance companies totalled Tk 6.62 billion and that of SBC was Tk 3.82 billion in 2005 while the figures were Tk 6.87 billion and Tk 3.53 billion respectively in 2004.

The BIA’s annual report also revealed that the life fund of private insurance companies rose by 29.66 per cent to Tk 36.09 billion on December 31, 2005 from Tk 27.84 billion on December 31, 2004.However, the total assets of the private-sector life insurance companies reached Tk 44.25 billion on December 31, 2005, reflecting a 34.82 per cent rise against Tk 32.82 billion on December 31, 2004.

The total assets of non-life insurance companies under private sector stood at nearly Tk 14.20 billion up to December 2005 against over Tk 11.20 billion as on December 31, 2004.The total assets of state-owned SBC also increased from Tk 6.05 billion on December 2004 to Tk 6.36 billion until December 2004, the BIA figures showed. The newly elected members of the executive committee of the BIA for the period 2007-2008 were introduced at the AG.