Asia Economy

Despite the talk of restrictions on foreign investment in insurance in Indonesia, international companies remain interested and active in the sector. A number of significant deals were completed in 2015, with others in the works, suggesting that the market’s potential outweighs the risk of ownership limits being put in place. For local insurance companies, capital pressures...

Already in operation for a year, Indonesia's national health insurance scheme (JKN) aims to provide cover to the entire nation by 2019, and private insurers are paying close attention. The JKN is expected to create opportunities for the private sector, as Indonesians become more aware of their insurance needs and potentially more inclined to buy supplemental cover. “The...

There is significant foreign participation in the Indonesian insurance sector, with two-thirds of life assets held by companies with some investment from overseas, according to figures from the Financial Services Authority (OJK). However, the openness of the insurance market is being reconsidered on an ongoing basis, and it remains unclear whether foreign shareholdings will...

As with the banking sector, insurance in Indonesia is on the cusp of wide-reaching change. Given the country’s large population of nearly 250m – expanding by more than 1% per annum – its growing middle class and a GDP rising at about 6% a year, the insurance sector stands to benefit from these fundamentals in the years ahead. Indeed, at just $77, insurance density in Indonesia...

Although Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, it trails many other markets in terms of uptake, awareness and product innovation in Islamic capital markets. As of the end of May 2015, only 3.3% of corporate bonds and 11.8% of government bonds by value were sharia-compliant. By contrast, in Malaysia half of all debt issued meets Islamic standards.