January 14 (SeeNews) - The combined net profit of life insurance companies in Bulgaria increased to 52.5 million levs ($30.8 million/26.8 million euro) in the first ten months of last year from 21.9 million levs in the like period of 2020, the country's financial regulator said.
Life insurers' gross written premiums (GWP) went up 33.9% year-on-year to 483 million levs in the ten months through October, the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) said in a data release earlier this week.
The GWP rise was mostly driven by life insurance premiums connected with investment funds, which soared to 192.8 million levs at the end of October from 83 million levs in the comparable time of 2020.
The four biggest life insurers held a market share of 87% in terms of GWP among themselves in the period under review. There were ten life insurance companies active in Bulgaria at the end of October.
Allianz Bulgaria Life, with gross premiums of 152.5 million levs, and DZI Life Insurance, with 116.4 million levs in GWPs, were the biggest players on the Bulgarian life insurance market. Their respective market shares were 31.6% and 24.1%.
Bulstrad Life Vienna Insurance Group and UNIQA Life followed with market shares of 20% and 11.3%, respectively.
The total assets of the life insurers in Bulgaria went up to 2.57 billion levs at the end of October from 2.0 billion levs a year earlier.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)