Life insurance is marked by a remarkable rise, the growth rate is ahead of the non-life insurance, which is a relatively rare situation for the Bulgarian market. As of October 2021, GWP in life insurance reached BGN 483 million (+34%) (~EUR 247 million), and paid claims increased by 23% to BGN 181 million, the Association said.

The biggest contribution to such intensive development is made by life insurance related to the investment fund - its growth as of October 2021 was 132% and GWP reached nearly BGN 193 million, which is more than twice as high compared to the same periods in 2019 (BGN 77 million) and in 2020 (BGN 83 million). Among the reasons the Association notes changed investment environment and search for more profitable alternatives for savings management. In 2021, increased interest in health insurance remained stable, with an increase of about 11% in illness insurance both non-life and life. Such an interest is fully understandable in a society exposed to increased health risk in the last two years, as the ABZ Chairman Konstantin VELEV explained.

The latest FSC (Financial Supervision Commission) data for the market as of October 2021 show an already clearly defined trend for sustainable market growth in almost all insurance products. GWP growth for the market as a whole at the end of October was 12% (compared to the end of October 2020), reaching BGN 2,675 million. This is significant growth in the context of the pandemic, restrictive measures, declining living standards of many households and stagnation in some sectors of the economy. Paid claims also increased by a total of 8.4% y-o-y to BGN 1,063 million. Stable market performance can be seen when comparing these results with the pre-pandemic level in 2019 - as of October 2021 GWP had a 10% increase compared to the same period of 2019.

The non-life sector also maintained its traditional moderate but steady growth of 8%. This upward development is mainly due to motor insurance, as the most popular product of civil liability insurance of vehicle owners as of October 2021 grew by 6.8% to BGN 967 million. However, paid claims grew faster - by 7.2%. In Motor Hull GWP increase was 8.9% to BGN 591 million. As noted, the prices of MTPL, after their visible decline in 2020, have gradually begun to recover to pre-pandemic levels, although they have not yet reached them.

*1 EUR = BGN 1.95583