The insurance market recorded a year-on-year 6.4% increase over the first half of this year in terms of premiums written, with its volumes reaching record heights - EUR 312.3 million. "Growth in life insurance was less robust than a year ago, but this branch remains the main engine of growth within the entire insurance market. The non-life insurance market boosted as well, although the most numerous in terms of contracts concluded, the motor third party liability (MTPL) insurance class did not avoid a decline", says Mindaugas SALCIUS, Deputy Director of the Prudential Supervision Department of the Supervision Service at the Bank of Lithuania.

The following statement was released by the Bank of Lithuania.

The record strong growth rate of life insurance a year ago (18.3%) slowed down in the first half of 2015, remaining a double-digit one nevertheless - 11.2%. The amount of premiums written within this insurance branch was the largest in the entire data collection history - EUR 106.6 million.  This change was mainly due to an increase (by 13.5%) in unit-linked life insurance, which accounts for 70% of the entire life assurance market, while the amount of premiums also reached a new record - EUR 74.6 million.  

Year on year the non-life insurance market expanded by 4% in the first half-year, while the amount of premiums written within it was EUR 205.7 million.  Growth in the non-life insurance market was mainly driven by the Casco, property and health insurance classes, which expanded by 6%, 10.8% and 15.5% respectively. MTPL insurance, which accounts for the largest share of the non-life insurance market, recorded a 2.9% decline (the amount of premiums written was EUR 68.3 million). Within this insurance class, a 1.1% increase in the amount of premiums written by natural persons did not offset an 8.9% decline in the premiums of legal persons.

Insurance undertakings registered in Lithuania incurred a EUR 16.4 million loss in the first half of 2015 (down from a year-on-year EUR 19.6 million profit). This result for the first half-year was mainly due to a one-off factor - a EUR 21 million loss, caused by the transfer of investments due to the transfer of the insurance portfolio of the Estonia branch of CODAN Forsikring A/S, acquired by UAB DK PZU Lietuva in 2014. The impact of this transaction excluded, insurance undertakings would have earned EUR 4.6 million in profits.

In the first half-year, 97 insurance brokerage firms operated in Lithuania's insurance market; they acted as intermediaries in concluding 744.8 thousand insurance contracts and pension accumulation agreements, an almost 9.8% increase year on year.  

Access www.xprimm.com and download the 1H2015 Lithuanian insurance market statistics.

Market portfolio:

• Gross written premiums
• Paid claims
• Growth rates

Life & non-life market rankings (GWP/Claims/Market shares/Growth rates).

More about the Lithuanian insurance market evolution in 1H2015 will be available in the forthcoming issue of XPRIMM Insurance Report 1H2015, to be released on October, 18th, on the occasion of the Baden-Baden XPRIMM Reception (Kurhaus Casino, Runder Saal, 18:30 - 20:30 hours).