Insurance market goes in time back three years to less than 2bn euros

Insurance companies' underwritten premiums fell by 5.7% last year, to 8.36 billion lei (1.98 billion euros), because of lower sales of auto policies, according to data of the Insurance Supervisory Commission (CSA). The insurers' business returned to the 2007 level, when they first exceeded the 2 billion-euro mark.

Estimates for this year show the insurance market is most likely to stagnate or register 1-2% growth.

"The underwriting activity was affected by the start of the crisis and I expect that, as the economic context improves, the market will return to growth," said Angela Toncescu, CSA chairperson.

The decline of the insurance market deepened in 2010, considering that in the previous year the decline amounted to less than 1%, the main reason being the decline of car sales and of leasing activities, which generated lower underwriting on the comprehensive insurance policy segment.

Revenues derived from policies underwritten on the general insurance segment fell by 7.5% last year, to 6.7 billion lei (1.6 billion euros). Comprehensive policies account for 37% of this insurance segment, with the value of such policies falling by 25% in 2010, to 2.5 billion lei.