Says total industry premiums for all lines of business rose 3.8% to $76.3 billion
The Canadian life and health insurance industry has reported a strong performance in the year of 2008. The insurance industry had weathered the impact of the economic downturn.
The insurance industry provides financial security products, including life insurance, annuities such as RRSPs, RRIFs and pensions and supplementary health insurance, to about 26mn Canadians and their dependents.
According to Canadian Life and Health Insurance Industry Association’s (CLHIA) annual industry report, its statistics show that total industry premiums for all lines of business rose 3.8% to $76.3 billion. Its annuity premiums rose to $34.7 billion driven by contributions to segregated fund products and increased deposits to fixed-return general fund products.
In addition, the report claims that the premiums for supplementary health and disability insurance products rose 7.4% to almost $26.7 billion and life insurance increased 3.7% to $14.9 billion. Despite the economic turmoil, industry assets has declined by a moderate 4.8% to $411 billion.
Frank Swedlove, president of CLHIA, said: The positive results released today demonstrate that our industry continues to offer products and services that are important to Canadians, and that the industry is well positioned for further growth as the economy rebounds.”