Thailand’s National Catastrophe Insurance Fund Reports Success in First Year

Payungsak Chartsutthiphon, the president of the executive committee of the National Catastrophe Insurance Fund of Thailand, announced that over the past year of the fund’s operation it has been able to insure an increasing number of households and businesses against three types of disasters: flooding, earthquakes and storms.

This represents a great improvement over the situation at the time of the catastrophic floods of 2011, when foreign reinsurance companies would not reinsure properties or charge greatly increased premiums, taking a toll on the financial resources and expenditures of business people in the industrial sector and the general public. After the fund began its operation, it set a single, standard rate of 0.5 to 1.25 percent for premiums that applied nationwide, resulting in a continuous reduction in reinsurance premiums.

During its existence, a total of 808,119 catastrophe insurance policies were sold, representing 52,123 million baht in proportional reinsurance coverage and 420 million baht in proportional reinsurance premiums. Catastrophe insurance policies purchased by households accounted for the largest share, 92 percent, of the total policies sold, while policies purchased by SMEs made up 7 percent of the total and industrial customers, 1 percent.

Households, accounted for the largest portion the overall proportional reinsurance fund at 58 percent, with the industrial sector in second place at 26 percent, followed by the SME sector at 16 percent. These rankings result from the fact that the industrial client group pay the greatest amount in premiums, 44 percent of the total, followed by households at 36 percent and SMEs at 20 percent, with no claims filed to date.

Source: National Catastrophe Insurance Fund of Thailand