OREANDA-NEWS. Companies under the Insurance industry provide insurance and reinsurance services – life, disability, indemnity or supplemental health insurance, property and casualty insurance or reinsurance. This includes those with diversified interests in life and health as well as property and casualty insurance. This is based on the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) which is also used to categorise stocks on SGX StockFacts.

There are three actively traded insurance firms listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) – Great Eastern Holdings, United Overseas Insurance and Singapore Reinsurance Corporation. These three have a combined market capitalisation of S$14.5 billion and trade at an average price-earnings ratio of 12.9. The MSCI World Insurance Index is a US dollar-denominated index with a combined market capitalisation of US$1.4 trillion and also trades at a P/E ratio of 12.9.

The total returns of the three insurance firms are tabled below. To view the full profile of each stock, click on the respective company name.

As discussed in a similar Market Update last year, SHC Capital Asia, was previously engaged in underwriting various classes of general insurance risk. The company was founded in 1956 and is based in Singapore. SHC Capital Asia is a subsidiary of SHC Capital Holdings Pte. In 2014, SHC Capital Asia disposed of its subsidiary SHC Insurance Pte. to ERGO International AG, and no longer has any operating business.

As noted above, the three insurance firms average a P/E ratio of 12.9, which is the same as the global benchmark at 12.9. The three stocks also average an ROE of 7.6 and a five year average ROE of 9.5. The three stocks also average a dividend yield of 3.3%, ranging from 4.3% for Singapore Reinsurance Corporation to 2.4% for Great Eastern Holdings.