Bulgarian General Insurers' H1 Gross Premiums Rise 1.7% Y/Y

Bulgaria's general insurance market is dominated by the mandatory car insurance and motor third-party liability insurance policies, which jointly accounted for 69.8% of total general insurance premiums in the first six months of the year, the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) said in a statement.

General insurance claims inched up 0.8% on the year to 359.2 million levs through June, the statement said.

The combined assets of the 20 general insurers active in Bulgaria at the end of June grew 16.2% on the year to 1.7 billion levs.

The combined gross premium income of the 17 life insurers operating in Bulgaria decreased by 12.5% on the year to 113.1 million levs through June. Claims rose by an annual 19.1% to 42.5 million levs.

The combined assets of Bulgaria's life insurers rose 8.5% on the year to 940 million levs at the end of June.

Bulgaria's voluntary health insurers reported gross premium income of 23.15 million levs in the first six months of 2009, compared to 15.12 million levs in the year-ago period. Claims totalled 10.3 million levs, slightly up from 9.6 million levs a year earlier.

The combined assets of Bulgaria's voluntary health insurers rose 25.3% on the year to 65.5 million levs at the end of June.

(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)