TIRANA, Jan. 26 – Albania’s insurance market slowed down in 2016 following a double-digit growth rate in 2015, but paid claims in the compulsory motor insurance-dominated market rose by an annual 17.5 percent, the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority says.
Insurance premiums in the nine companies operating in this market rose by 9.6 percent to 15.5 billion lek (€112 million) as the number of insurance policies registered only a modest 2.6 percent hike to 1.12 million.
Compulsory motor insurance continued dominating even in 2016, with a market share of about two-thirds, leaving voluntary insurance with 38 percent.
Paid claims, the majority of which belongs to motor insurance, rose by 17.5 percent to 4.2 billion lek (€31 million), slightly more than a quarter of the companies’ 2016 turnover.
Annual compulsory motor insurance rates for common five-seaters increased by an average of 20 percent up to 19,200 lek (€137) in mid-2016, in a unanimous hike by all companies which heavily rely on compulsory insurance. Rates dropped again in the following months as the competition watchdog and financial supervisory authority warned companies of penalties due to price-fixing allegations.
Albania’s non-life and compulsory insurance oriented insurance market grew by 21 percent in 2015 and by 36 percent in 2014 after a 4.6 percent annual decline in 2013.
Some nine insurance companies operate in Albania, including recently privatized INSIG operator. In March 2016, Albanian-owned Eurosig purchased INSIG for €15.8 million, with the acquisition increasing the insurer’s market share to 20 percent.
