The Albanian Financial Supervision Authority released its 2009 figures this week, indicating that the gross written premiums reached about 7.9 million leks, or 11.28 percent more than the previous year.
TIRANA, Jan. 28 – Albania’s insurance sector saw growth in premium volume and overall market size in 2009, the sector’s official watchdog organization said this week.
The Albanian Financial Supervision Authority released its 2009 figures this week, indicating that the gross written premiums reached about 7.9 million leks, or 11.28 percent more than the previous year.
The number of insurance contracts in 2009 was 755,669, marking an increase of 9.15 percent compared to the previous year.
“The increase in the number of contracts for the analyzed period was in line with the increase of the revenues from premiums, and that reinforces the sustainability of the development tendency,” the authority said.
It added that the Albanian “insurance market has not been significantly impacted by the current financial situation in the international financial markets.”
The authority said that’s related to the simplicity of the products traded in the Albanian market.
“Monitoring and analysis conducted by the FSA indicates that the market has shown stability in the recent years and has much more room for further development,” the statement said.
The insurance market continued to be non-life oriented, as that group makes up about 90.83 percent of the overall premium volume, leaving life insurance with a share of about 9.17 percent.
Voluntary insurance makes up 47.31 percent of the premium volume, while compulsory insurance premiums, like car insurance, make up 52.69 percent of the market premiums.
In terms of overall paid claims, the increase in total gross claims paid was about 13.05 percent compared to the previous year. The major amount of paid claims belongs to motor insurance with 1.5 million leks or 86.22 percent of the total paid claims.
In compulsory vehicle insurance, written premiums amounted to about 4.2 million leks or 4.36 percent more compared to the previous year.
It’s important to note that within a few years, the insurance market improved its structure in favor of voluntary insurance, which during the analyzed period brought 47.31 percent of the overall insurance premiums.
Voluntary insurance premiums reached about 3.7 million leks, or 20.16 percent more than the prior period of 2008 and by about 34.43 percent increase in the number of insurance contracts compared to the previous year.
In non-life voluntary insurance, during 2009, revenues increased by approximately 16.23 percent compared to the previous year.
Accidents and Health Insurance during 2009 amounted to about 375 million leks, marking an increase of about 19.72 percent compared to the previous year.
The highest percentage there was taken by the Travel Health Insurance sector which brought in about 75.43 percent of the group’s revenue.
Life insurance premiums during 2009 amounted to 724 million leks with an increase of about 39.79 percent compared to the previous year.
“The participation of foreign investors with serious experience in life insurance has brought the introduction of new products of life and health insurance,” according to the authority.
