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Jamaica’s insurance sector continues to expand, with total assets just shy of the $600-billion mark and capital buffers showing improvement, the Financial Services Commission, FSC, indicated in its June quarter review of the sector.
Asset growth was estimated at over 10 per cent by the regulator, year-on-year, having gained $56.5 billion to reach $598.3 billion. The majority of those assets, $490 billion, was held by life companies, and that figure in turn mostly comprised investment assets valued at $443 million.
The majority of the life sector’s investments are held in the form of bonds, amounting to $288.38 billion, as of June, the FSC review indicated. Equities holdings were estimated at $61.31 billion.
The sector comprises 17 registered operators, six in the life segment and 11 general insurance companies. Ten of the general insurance companies were fully operational, while one operated as a branch, the FSC explained about the entities captured in its report.
The FSC attributed the asset growth primarily to increased investments, dominated by bonds, followed by other fixed-income instruments and a modest allocation to equities. Both the life and general insurance segments posted year-on-year gains.