KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. At a time when capital market volatility is still high, the investment assets of the life insurance industry are actually increasing. As of last August, its investment assets grew 8.59% year-on-year with a value of Rp 496.4 trillion.

If you look at OJK data, mutual fund assets still dominate around 33.62% of the entire life insurance industry investment portfolio. Meanwhile, the investment value in these assets reached Rp 166.9 trillion and grew 7.96% yoy

Furthermore, there are stock assets that contribute about 28.26% of the total portfolio with a value of Rp 140.3 trillion. As a comparison, in the previous period last year the investment value in stocks was Rp 126.1 trillion or grew 11.26% yoy.

The chairman of the Indonesian Life Insurance Association (AAJI) Budi Tampubolon also said that so far the life insurance industry in investing has not paid much attention to short-term sentiments. Therefore, even though the capital market is currently volatile, life insurance companies do not immediately withdraw their investment assets.

In fact, Budi also believes that so far the life insurance industry still lacks investment asset options for the long term. According to him, the life insurance industry needs to place its funds in long-term instruments.

"So when we look at the next 3 months to the next 1 year or longer, for example the government will change its policy. It doesn't necessarily mean that we have to take a new position in investing, because we see it in the long term,” said Budi.

If you look at the performance of players, BNI Life still recorded a growth in its investment assets. This subsidiary of the bank with the 46 logo recorded investment assets as of September 2021 of Rp 20.1 trillion or grew by 14% yoy. "The current sentiment affecting investment is a volatile condition influenced by the development of COVID-19 and tapering," said BNI Life Finance Director Eben Eser Nainggolan.

Therefore, Eben also said that his party is currently quite selective in choosing investment assets by choosing assets with good quality but can provide optimal returns. "We also trade by taking advantage of every momentum to gain profit," added Eben.

Meanwhile, the criteria for the investment assets selected are stocks at LQ45 or Kompas 100, bonds with a minimum rating of A- and prioritize SOEs, and deposits in Book 3 & 4 banks. Fixed income instruments will still be the main ones because they are considered relatively stable under favorable conditions. still volatile at this time.

Source: Kontan