The first quarter was a difficult one for the life insurance market, with some companies witnessing declines, after years of ongoing sales growth.
The ranking of the top ten life insurers changed in the first quarter compared with from the end of last year, with a player from the middle, Asiban, falling close to the bottom end of the ranking, while others, such as Allianz-Tiriac or Generali, climbed.
The leading position was still held by ING, with gross underwritten premiums worth 130.2m RON (30.5m euros), and a 4.5% turnover drop from a year ago. The entire life insurance market had a steeper decline, of 6%, to 392.3m RON (92m euros), according to Insurance Supervision Commission data.
AIG Life, ranking second on the market, kept the same position. The insurer did not publish its figures after first quarter, but, according to ZF estimates, gross underwritten premiums fell by 10% to 61m RON (14.3m euros).
As far as the life insurance market is concerned it is unit-linked policy sales that are going down as their returns plummeted on financial market turmoil. On the other hand, the number of clients cancelling their policies also rose, meaning insurers no longer collect the premiums these had to pay.
Just like in 2008, ranking third on the life insurance market is BCR Viata, whose turnover advanced by 60%, to 35.2m RON (8.3m euros). This is the biggest increase a top ten insurer posted in the first three months.
Asirom, coming fourth, did not publish its first-quarter figures, but according to ZF estimates its gross underwritten premiums shrank by 10% on the life insurance segment, to 31.7m RON (7.4m euros). Allianz-Tiriac, leader of the insurance market (general and life insurance), climbed one position, to the 5th. Aviva went down one position, being the sixth largest player on the life insurance market after the first quarter.
Generali climbed two positions in the top, ranking 7th. Austria's Grawe stayed on the 8th position, being among the few life insurers whose turnovers rose during this period.
Instead, Asiban, the fourth biggest insurer on this market in 2008, fell on the 9th position, with a 23% turnover decline on this segment, the steepest slump a top ten insurer has so far announced. The tenth player in the ranking, Omniasig Life, saw a 10% turnover drop, to 11.9m RON (2.8m euros), according to ZF estimates.
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