Albanian Insurers' Jan-Aug Gross Premium Income Rises 13.44% to 4.6 Bln Leks (37 Mln Euro)

Gross premiums from non-life insurance rose by 12.2% to 4.32 billion leks in the eight-month period, the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority said in its monthly report. The number of non-life insurance policies increased by 22.7% on the year to 413,090.

Gross premiums from life insurance totalled 335 million leks through August, 32.73% higher on the year. The number of life insurance policies rose by 50.37% to 35,575. Albania's 10 insurers paid 907 million leks on claims in the first eight months, down by 2.53% on the year. The number of claims increased by 300 to 6,032, of which only 36 were for life insurance. Only three companies offer life insurance services in Albania.

Sigal ranked first in the life insurance segment with a market share of 37.75%. The company also ranked first in the non-life segment with a market share of 27.5%. In the same period last year Sigal (www.sigal.com.al) had a 37.83% share of the life insurance segment and 27.24% share of the non-life insurance segment. In December Austrian insurer UNIQA bought 46% of Sigal, with an option to become a majority shareholder in 2010.

State-owned INSIG, expected to be privatised by the year’s end, ranked second in the life insurance segment. INSIG had a 33.71% market share in January-August, down from 36.98% in the same period a year ago. INSIG ranked third in the non-life insurance segment with a market share of 14.11%, down from the 18.12% a year earlier.

(1 euro = 123.0542 Albanian leks)