OREANDA-NEWS. June 22, 2015. Companies under the Insurance industry, according to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS® ), 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.

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\\$12.0 billion and trade at an average price-earnings ratio of 11.9. The MSCI World Insurance Index is US dollar-denominated index with a combined market capitalisation of US\\$1.6 trillion and trades at a P/E ratio of 12.6.

The insurance companies have averaged dividend-boosted returns of 4.3% in the year thus far, bringing their one-year and three-year returns to 14.1% and 79.2% respectively. In the year-to-date, the MSCI World Insurance Index has gained 5.1% on a total return basis, taking its 12-month gain to 7.1% and three-year total return to 83.9%. On a SGD basis, the Index generated total returns of 15.0% over the past one year and 94.4% over the past three years.

Name SGX Code Mkt. Cap. in S\\$ mm % Price Change YTD % Change - Dividend Adj. YTD % Change - Dividend Adj. [1 Year] % Change - Dividend Adj.  [3 Years] P/E Div. Ind Yld. in %
Great Eastern Holdings G07 11,549 1.7 3.6 14.9 109.3 13.3 3.0
United Overseas Insurance U13 297 2.3 5.2 9.6 60.4 11.5 3.1
Singapore Reinsurance Corporation S49 197 1.6 4.2 17.7 67.8 10.9 4.6
Average     1.9 4.3 14.1 79.2 11.9 3.6

Source: SGX StockFacts (Data as of 16 June 2015)

Currently, Singapore Reinsurance Corporation is trading closest to its 52-week high, followed by United Overseas Insurance, and Great Eastern Holdings.

Source: SGX StockFacts (Data as of 16 June 2015)

Note 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 (click here to read more). Therefore it has been excluded from analysis.

Great Eastern Holdings

Great Eastern Holdings is an investment holding company that provides financial advisory services and insurance products in Singapore, Malaysia, and rest of Asia. Great Eastern is also subsidiary of OCBC Bank.  The company operates in the Life Assurance, General Assurance – which offers short term property and casualty products – and Shareholders segments. The company was founded in 1908 and is based in Singapore.

For first quarter ended 31 March 2015 financial results, please click here.

United Overseas Insurance

United Overseas Insurance engages in the underwriting of general insurance and reinsurance in Singapore, ASEAN,  and internationally. The company offers personal insurance products, commercial general insurance, directors’ and officers’ insurance, and contractors’ insurance. The company was founded in 1971 and is based in Singapore.

For first quarter ended 31 March 2015 financial results, please click here.

Singapore Reinsurance Corporation

Singapore Reinsurance Corporation operates as a general reinsurer company in Singapore and Asia. It operates through two segments, Reinsurance and Non-Reinsurance. The company also provides information technology (IT) services, system development and support services for insurance-related systems, underwriting support to the insurance sector, and secretariat support services to the Singapore Reinsurers’ Association. The company was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Singapore.