Albanian Insurers' Jan-Aug Gross Premium Income Rises 20% Y/Y

Gross premiums from non-life insurance rose by an annual 18.3% to 5.01 billion leks through August, the country’s Financial Supervisory Authority said in its monthly report. The number of non-life insurance policies increased by an annual 17.9% to 488,125.

Gross premiums from life insurance totaled 465.8 million leks, 38.7% higher on the year. The number of life insurance policies rose by an annual 12.2% to 39,912.

Albania's ten insurers paid 1.04 billion leks in claims through August, up by 14.5% on the year. The number of claims in the eight-month period increased by an annual 1,940 to 8,024, of which only 40 were life insurance claims. Only three companies - Sigal, INSIG and Sicred - offer life insurance services in Albania.

Local insurer Sigal Life (www.sigal.com.al) ranked first on the life insurance segment with a market share of 54.7% through August, up from 37.8% a year earlier. Second came Sicred with a 22.4% market share, down from the 28.5% it had a year earlier.

Sigal also ranked first on the non-life insurance segment with a 30.1% market share, slightly up from 27.5% a year earlier. Second came Sigma, whose share rose to 15.2% from the 15.1% it had through August last year.

(1 euro = 135.0389 Albanian leks)