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By Likha C. Cuevas-Miel, Reporter
SALES of preneed plans last year contracted
across all products, led by educational plans, the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Friday.
SEC data showed that plans sold at end-December
fell by 22 percent to 19,701 against the same period the previous
year.
Educational plans suffered the biggest
contraction at 39.4 percent to 1,310 year on year. This was followed
by pension and life plans, which registered declines in sales of
26.9 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively.
In peso terms, sales of all products declined by
38.8 percent to P1.36 billion year on year.
In December alone, pension plans recorded the
biggest decline at 46.7 percent to P743 million compared with the
previous year, followed by educational plans, which contracted by
31.1 percent to P201 million. Life plan sales dropped by 22.3
percent to P417 million.
Initial collections for December fell as well by
53.3 percent to P133 million from a year ago. Life plans’ initial
collections did not fare well as it registered a decline of 57
percent to P21.7 million year on year, followed by pension plans,
which fell by 55.4 percent to P92.2 million. Initial collections for
educational plans also dipped to P19 million, 31 percent less than
in December 2006.
For the whole year, life and pension plans
contributed almost the same amount in terms of total number of plans
sold at 46.8 percent and 42.5 percent, respectively. Compared with
the 2006 figures, pension plans accounted for half of the total
plans sold while life plans contributed 36 percent. Educational
plans’ contribution to the total continued to dwindle at 10.8
percent compared with the previous year’s 13.6 percent.
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