KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 28): The general insurance industry saw a pick-up, albeit marginally, last year, growing 1.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) on the back of higher premiums from its two largest classes of insurance – motor and fire.

Gross written premiums amounted to RM17.92 billion in 2018 compared with RM17.65 billion in 2017, which fell slightly by 0.11% from RM17.67 billion in 2016.

The General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) said the industry is expected to continue growing at a slow rate for 2019.

"(In 2018), motor insurance remained the largest class with a market share of 47.3%, followed by fire at 19.6% and marine aviation and transit (MAT) at 7.4%," it said in a statement today.

Motor insurance's gross written premiums rose 1.8% y-o-y to RM8.47 billion in 2018, driven by increases in new vehicle sales in both the private motor cars and commercial vehicles segments.

Close to 600,000 new vehicles were sold in 2018 compared with 580,000 in 2017 on higher demand during the tax-free months from June to August 2018.

However, Malaysia has also one of the highest road accident numbers in the world. Total motor insurance claims incurred by the industry rose to RM5.45 billion in 2018, said PIAM.

The association added that the gross written premiums of the fire insurance grew 2.8% y-o-y to RM3.51 billion last year.

However, MAT insurance's gross written premiums declined 0.3% y-o-y to RM 1.33 billion owing to reductions in the cargo and offshore oil related classes.

Medical and health insurance's gross written premiums grew 5.2% y-o-y to RM1.16 billion, while that of personal accident insurance rose 6.9% y-o-y to RM1.21 billion.