Czech insurance market ended 1Q 2012 with a GWP y-o-y decrease of about 6.7%, to CZK 39.74 billion (EUR 1.6 billion).  Paid claims also decreased by 1.2%, to CZK 21.9 billion (EUR 885.5 million). According to CAP, the Czech association of insurers, the main sources of the declining GWP volume were the decline of the life insurance lines, mainly the single premium line, and the persistent drop in insurance premiums for motor classes.

The Association of Czech Insurance Brokers (ACPM) has recently announced the results of the 12th edition of its annual survey of insurance companies, realized in cooperation with the Czech Insurers Association and oPojisteni.cz, a specialized financial portal. In the categories of industrial and business insurance, personal insurance and life insurance, first place went to KOOPERATIVA Pojist'ovna - VIG, while ALLIANZ Pojist'ovna won in the car insurance category and EVROPSKA Cestovni Pojist'ova was awarded the prize for the specialized insurance category (travel insurance).

RSA has placed a Czech motor insurance subsidiary in run-off, which will add a £10mn restructuring charge to the group's half-year result.

The Czech Association of Football Players (CAFH) has come up with a special insurance policy for its members who have to deal with club insolvency.

Czech Republic gross written insurance premiums decrease slightly last year, to CZK 155.08 billion (EUR 6.01 billion), according to the financial indicators published by the Czech National Bank (CNB). These results confirm the market trend resulting from data collected by the insurers' association (CAP).

Ceska pojistovna (CP) (Prague, Czech Republic), insurance company, decreased its net profit by two thirds to CEK 3.55 bil in 2011 compared to 2010. CP collected by 10% less premiums in 2011 compared to 2010. Profits of other insurance companies in the Czech Republic decreased in 2011 as well. Insurance companies in the Czech Republic collected premiums of CEK 116.3 bil in 2011, according to Czech standards, a decrease by 0.3% compared to 2010.

Ceska prumyslova zdravotni pojistovna (CPZP) (Czech Republic), health insurance company, will merge with the rival health insurance company Metal-Aliance (MA) (Czech Republic) in 2012. A health insurance company with 1.2 mil insured people and more than 130 subsidiaries will be estabished by the merger. The merged company will become the number two on the Czech market following the state health insurance company Vseobecna zdravotni pojistovna (VZP) (Czech Republic). MA approved the merger with CPZP in spite of the fact that state representatives in MA's managing board had not supported the merger.

Vienna Insurance Group AG (VIG) slid for a second day, leading Czech shares down, as speculation a Greek bailout deal won't solve the nation's debt crisis hurt demand for riskier assets in Europe.

The Czech government is planning a merger of two big health insurers, the Interior Ministry Health Insurance Company (ZPMV) and the Military Health Insurance Company (VoZP), Health Minister Leos Heger (TOP 09) said in a Prima Family Television discussion programme Sunday.

After succeeding to surpass the crisis' peak without leaving the positive territory, the Czech insurance market ended its 2011 "in red", for the first time after many years of growth. According to the statistics recently published by CAP (Czech Insurers Association), its member companies, accounting for a 98% share of the domestic market, collected Kc116.3 billion in premium, which is a 0.3% lower figure than in 2010. In European currency, the GPW volume reached EUR 4.51 billion, 3.15% down as compared to 2010, being also negatively impacted by the 3% y-o-y depreciation of the Czech Kroon's exchange rate.

State-owned insurance group Vseobecna zdravotni pojistovna (VZP) is projected to end 2012 with a Kc 3 billion loss after ending last year Kc 5 billion in the red, Radiozurnal reported on Friday.

Health insurance companies' yearly spending on prescription drugs will increase by CZK 1.31bn (€50.8m) due to the VAT increase on medicines from 10% to 14% in 2012, according to the Czech State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL). In case of certain drugs dispensed by pharmacies directly to doctors and healthcare facilities to cover the needs of their patients, health insurance companies will have to increase reimbursement expenditure by CZK 487.3m (€18.8m).

Czech Republic's insurance companies posted combined gross written premiums of EUR 4.77 billion (CZK 118 billion) in 3Q2011, up 2.3% (in European currency) from a year earlier, according to the financial indicators published by the Czech National Bank (CNB). These results confirm the data collected by the insurers' association (CAP), released in November, 2011.

In the first three quarters of 2011 the Czech subsidiary of UNIQA increased its premium volume to EUR167.7 million (CZK 4.093 billion). In relative terms, the company managed to report an over 11% growth rate, substantially outpacing the market dynamic, of 1.8%. This put the company on the 10th place among the more than 40 insurance companies on the market in the Czech Republic, announced last week the insurance group.

IBM has released a statement that revealed that Ceska Pojistovna A.S., the largest Czech Republic insurance company, is using the predictive approaches from smarter computing at IBM in order to take preemptive action against IT problems and to provide its core business functions - for example, customer management and claims processing - with greater support.

In the ranking of the "100 best Czech businesses", Kooperativa, the leading Vienna Insurance Group company in the Czech Republic achieved the excellent fourth place. In the "Financial Services" category the insurer came top, achieving first place, an outstanding result. This means Kooperativa is continuing to maintain the very good ratings achieved in recent years and is strengthening its position as a major player in the Czech economy.

Since November 25, the PPF Group controlled by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner has sold around 4.5 million shares in Italian insurance group Generali for €54.4 million (around Kc 1.37 billion), the weekly Tyden has reported. The shares sold to date account for 14 percent of the Netherlands-registered investment group's stake in the Italian insurer.

An audit has revealed that tens of millions of crowns that VZP, the largest Czech health insurance firm, paid to the electronic medical records company IZIP ended up in the coffers of firms controlled by its representatives, raising suspicions of corruption, local media reported.

Price of third party insurance, obligatory for all 6.6 mil cars registered in the country, decreased to the lowest level for the past five years in 2H 2011. It is a result of competition among totally 13 insurance companies working on the third party insurance market in the Czech Republic.

Total underwritings of the Czech insurance market amounted, according the Czech Insurance Association, about EUR 4.34 billion, meaning an 1.33% y-o-y growth rate (in European currency). Both life and non-life statistics for 3Q2011 show a lower market dynamic, as compared to the previous quarters of 2011 or with the 2010 results. According to CAP, the main reason of the decreasing figures on non-life insurance is the persistent decline in motor insurance prices.