Pre-need resurges as profit up 5-fold

The pre-need industry saw its net income surge by nearly five-fold to P2.09 billion in 2023 from P429.6 million in 2022 as more people availed themselves of life plans, data from the Insurance Commission IC) showed.

- LOUISE MAUREEN SIMEON

The 385-percent jump in earnings was fueled by the 7.3 percent increase to P22.73 billion in premiums sold by the pre-need sector as demand for life plans slightly increased.

In total, the industry sold 749,154 pre-need plans in 2023, just slightly better than the 744,730 sold in 2022.

The bulk of these at 99 percent were life plans, which also moderately improved by a percentage in terms of the number of plans sold.

Pre-need plans are contracts that provide for the performance of future service, payment of monetary consideration or delivery of other benefits upon a certain maturity date. These include life, education and pension, among others.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said this may be attributed to the combination of increased incomes and financial literacy among Filipinos.