August 30 (SeeNews) - The combined total premium income of Serbian insurance companies for the first quarter rose 9.7% on the year to 21.9 billion dinars ($202 million/178 million euro), central bank data showed.
Non-life insurance made up 77.7% of the total premium income, down from 78.4% in the first quarter of 2015, while life insurance accounted for 22.3%, up from 21.6% last year thanks to a nominal growth in life insurance premiums of 13%, the data, published by the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) late last week, indicated.
The premium income of the non-life insurance segment rose 8.8% year-on-yer in January-March, with the motor third party liability (MTPL) insurance premium up 5.2%, premium for accident insurance up 1.5%, and premium for full coverage motor vehicle insurance (casco) up 13.9%.
The share of voluntary health insurance premium increased to 3.3% from 2.9% in the first quarter of 2015 on the back of a nominal growth in premiums of 23.8%.
The total assets of Serbian insurers grew 14.6% on the year to 205.5 billion dinars at end-March. Their capital expanded by 29.3% to 45.4 billion dinars.
State-owned Dunav Osiguranje [BEL:DNOS] remained the country's top insurer by premium income, with a 28.3% share, followed by Generali with a 23.4% share, and DDOR with 11.7%.
A total of 24 insurers operated in Serbia in the first quarter, with 20 companies engaged in insurance activities only and four in reinsurance activities. Of the insurance firms, five were exclusive life insurers, nine exclusive non-life insurers, while six provided both life and non-life insurance.
The breakdown by ownership shows that of the 24 insurers, 18 were in majority foreign ownership.
Employment in the sector shrank by 2.7% year-on-year to 10,947 persons at end-March.
(1 euro=123.240 dinars)