Bucharest, over 52% in overall insurance in 2008

More than half of gross premiums insurers underwrote on the domestic market in 2008 were registered in Bucharest, where more than 1.26bn euros were collected, according to the Report of the Insurance Supervision Commission (CSA).

Northwestern and central regions posted the biggest revenues from insurance contracts, after Bucharest, including general insurance and life insurance, with a weight of above 8% in the nationwide total. At the opposite end, the southwestern region brought insurers the smallest revenues, of just 4% in the total.

CSA published the final data for 2008, pointing to a still upward trend of the market, but since the start of this year insurers have been coping with both falling gross underwritten premiums and a rising claims rate.

“Preliminary data for the first half of 2009 show the performance of the Romanian insurance market has been in line with global trends since the second half of 2008 as regards underwriting activities,” stated Angela Toncescu, CSA chairperson.

Claims settled for life insurance in the first six months of this year stood at almost 57m euros, almost equalling the total claims settled for the entire last year.

At the same time, claims settled for general insurance also rose, to 640 million euros, a 48% increase, in RON.

Constantin Toma, head of Omniasig, which ranks second on the general insurance market and tenth on the life insurance market, explained at an insurance workshop that steps had been taken to reduce the claims rate. One of the steps was an agreement for collaboration with a preferred car part supplier.

Omniasig improved its claims rate in the first half of the year, from 80.59% in December 2008, to 78.35% in late June.

Final rankings CSA published for the insurance market in 2008 point to a high concentration degree. The top three general insurance companies thus hold a 44% weight in the total, while the life insurance market is even more concentrated, with the top 3 companies holding 60% of the total.

The biggest losses in 2008 were reported by Ardaf, Unita and Asiban, on the life insurance market, with the cumulated value topping 140m euros, namely 78% of the total. On the life insurance market, the biggest losses were registered by Omniasig, Eureko and KD Life, namely 7.5m euros.