Insurance market grows by 4.6% in Jan-Nov

TIRANA, Dec. 26 – The insurance market continued growing even in November overcoming its negative growth rates during the first nine months of this year only thanks to compulsory motor insurance rates which since early 2012 have more than doubled in a deal which the Competition Authority has ruled as price-fixing. Data published by the Financial Supervisory Authority show new insurance premiums during the first eleven months of 2012 rose to 8 billion lek, up 4.65 percent year-on-year.
The market shrank by 15 percent in the year’s first quarter and 5.5 percent in the first half. Data show insurance premiums in the domestic MTPL compulsory car insurance grew by 46 percent despite the number of insurance policies growing by only 1 percent compared to the first eleven months of 2011. Paid claims, three-quarters of which belongs to motor insurance, grew by 29 percent to 2.4 billion lek during this period.
Last October, eight insurance companies operating in Albania were fined a total of 89 million lek (Euro 625,000) after the Competition Authority uncovered a price-fixing deal in compulsory motor insurance policy. The deal was made in February 2012 when all companies fixed motor insurance prices in a banned deal severely damaging competition.