UNSAR's 26 local insurers of issue 1.4bn-euro policies, down 6%

The members of the National Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania (UNSAR) ended the first nine months of the year with a 5.9 billion-RON turnover (the equivalent of 1.4 billion euros), down 5.7% against the similar period of last year, amid a significant decline of the car market.

UNSAR comprises two thirds of local insurers (26), including the top ten companies on the market in terms of the volume of gross premiums underwritten (the main indicator that shows the volume of business in the insurance sector).
On the general insurance segment, premiums underwritten by the UNSAR members totalled 4.9 billion RON in the first nine months, down 7.5% against January-September of 2009. The most affected segment was comprehensive insurance, with business on this segment falling by 24%, to 1.9 billion RON.
On the other hand, insurers posted 4% higher sales on the life insurance segment compared with the first nine months of last year, nearly 990 million RON, but the segment is too small to be able to pull the entire market up.