Insurers are likely to partially recoup in the second half ofthe year the revenues they lost in the first quarter, when overallturnover dropped by 150 million lei amid the tightening competitionon the auto liability segment, believes Radu Mustăţea, chairman ofAstra, the biggest company on the insurance market.
"The insurance market could recover part of the decline by yearendas the economy is picking up and, moreover, the impact of autoliability policy prices is largely felt in the first quarter, as abig part of car owners renew their policy in this period," Mustăţeasaid.
He puts the auto liability insurance tariff cut during the wintercampaign at 20-25%, with 1.8 million drivers having renewed theirpolicies, which has seriously reduced the volume of grossunderwritten premiums, considering this segment accounts for onethird of the general insurance market.
Gross underwritten premiums fell by 6.6% in January-March 2011 froma year ago, to RON2.1 billion (around EUR 500 million). Autoliability insurance policy revenues shrank by 18% during the sameperiod to RON668 million (EUR158 million).
While car policy revenues plunged in the first quarter, insurersmanaged to boost their revenues on other business lines, such asfire or natural disaster insurance and life insurance policies.
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