KUALA LUMPUR, April 25 — Etiqa Group Insurance and Takaful achieved a double-digit gross premium growth of 17 per cent to RM7.2 billion for the financial year (FY) ended December 31, 2018, although its profit before tax (PBT) was lower at RM825 million.

Group chief executive officer Kamaludin Ahmad said despite a challenging investment environment last year, Etiqa emerged as the fastest growing large insurance and takaful provider in Malaysia based on revenue growth.

Life insurance and family takaful business increased 16 per cent to RM4.3 billion and general insurance and takaful business rose 17 per cent to RM2.9 billion.

"With this strong performance, Etiqa maintained its top position in the general takaful segment with a 12.3 per cent market share compared with 11.6 per cent in 2017 and fourth position in the life and family segment with an 11.2 per cent market share versus 9.9 per cent in 2017 for the Malaysian market,” he said in a statement today.

Kamaludin said Etiqa posted a 19 per cent growth in new life/family business and 10 per cent growth in general business compared with the industry's growth of only 5 per cent and 4 per cent for the two businesses, respectively.

However, its PBT slid by 19 per cent mainly due to adverse equity market performance and designation of equities as fair value to profit and loss, which resulted in equities realised and unrealised losses compared with a large equity gain and gain from disposal of investment property recorded in 2017.

Despite that, the group could still affirm its strength in the industry with total assets of RM36.1 billion, an increase of 4.7 per cent from the previous year, he said.

"In 2019, Etiqa would continue to keep our focus simple by ensuring that a customer’s experience with us is ‘Fast & Easy’, and that we provide only the best advice,” he said. — Bernama