Insurance market in crisis

TIRANA, Sep. 27 – New insurance premiums during the first nine months of this year reached 5.5 billion lek (around 54 million dollars), up only 0.33 percent compared to the same period last year, confirming the crisis this sector is experiencing, The number of insurance contracts continued declining, dropping to 461,792, down 12.55 percent compared to the same period last year, the Financial Supervisory Authority said in a statement.
The market continued remaining non-life oriented with around 89.7 percent of the total premiums, leaving life insurance with a 9.6 percent share and reinsurance with 0.7 percent.
During the January-August period gross paid claims, the majority of which belongs to motor insurance, grew by 24.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
Last July, the Albanian insurance market returned to growth after the 2.15 percent shrink it registered in the first half of this year. Data published by the Financial Supervisory Authority showed a 0.96 percent year-on-year growth of the market during the January-July period. Gross insurance premiums during the first seven months reached 4.8 billion lek, (around 48 million dollars), 460,000 dollars more compared to the same period last year, despite the continuous considerable drop in the number of insurance contracts.
According to the Financial Supervision Authority, Albania continues to be one of the countries having the lowest annual consumption per capita of insurance.
Albanians pay on average 20 dollars annually for compulsory and voluntary insurance of vehicles, property and life, a small amount compared to other European countries.
The insurance market continues to be dominated by Sigal which holds 25.2 percent of the compulsory and 38.8 percent of the voluntary market, according to the Authority.
State-owned insurer Insig, which has been put on the privatization list of public assets, is currently the fifth biggest insurer, controlling 7.3 percent of the compulsory market and 11 percent of the voluntary.