A rise in the charge in taxation for 2015 to $35 million, from $3 million in 2014, eroded the 20 percent gain in gross premium income, JN Life Insurance realized, for the year ended December 2015.
Premium income amounted to $352 million from $294 million for the prior period leading to net premium income of $292 million for an increase of percent over the $250 million netted in 2014.
Operating cost and net insurance benefits increased from $155 million to $184 million an increase of 19 percent, just a shade lower than the increased premium income.
The tax rate increase resulted from the introduction of a corporate income tax last year March that replaced premium and investment taxes at rates of 3 percent and 15 percent respectively. Thus the effective corporate tax rate for JN Life for 2015 was 26 percent of pre-tax profit in contrast to 2.4 percent for 2014.
Although profit before tax increased from $118 million to $135.5 million profit after tax fell from $115 million in 2014 to $100 million, due to the increased tax.
While profits declined moderate total assets grew 36 percent year-on-year from $355 million to $481 million. Investments, which were mainly in BOJ certificate of deposits and government notes, increased by 31 percent over the $293 million reported for 2014 to $384 million.