The insurance market is one of the smallest in Asia

According to Swiss Re, the Philippines are the third smallest Asian insurance market in term of premiums. It comes ahead of only Macau and Brunei. The 2009 non life premiums' volume amounted to 1.4 billion USD. It is of 560 billion USD in Japan, and respectively of 408 million USD and 128 million USD in Macau and Brunei. The market's combined life and non life turnover in 2009 hardly amounted to 1.8 billion USD, down by 3% compared to 2008. The insurance penetration rate is below 2%, far behind most countries in the region. The country having 34 insurers, consolidations are necessary to eliminate micro-companies and protect the policyholders.