New amendments from the Hungarian Ministry of Finance on unit-linked life insurance will come into force on July 1, 2019. The adjustment of the Insurance Activities Act creates new obligations for insurers.

Italian insurer GENERALI announced signing an agreement to take over the entire life, non-life and composite insurance portfolios of three entities of ERGO International AG in Hungary and Slovakia. The sale is subject to certain regulatory and anti-trust approvals, as is customary for transactions of this kind. The parties have agreed not to provide details of the purchase price and other terms.

Hungarian insurersʼ revenues from premiums rose 7.1% y-o-y in 2018 to HUF 1,024 billion (EUR 3.2 billion), as the figures recently published by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) show.

According to the Association of Hungarian Insurance Companies (MABISZ), between 2010 and 2017, Hungarian insurers paid aprox. HUF 40 billion for a total of 50,000 reported fire incidents. 2012 was the most severe year, with fires causing HUF 10 billion in damage.

During 2008-2017 the main segments of the Hungarian insurance market - life and non-life insurance -, recorded a U-shape trend, both in written premiums and paid claims terms. Life insurance claims made the only exception from this path, recording a growth trend in the toughest years of the financial crisis.

Hungary's central bank aims to introduce in the second half of 2019 measures to enhance competition in the home insurance market, the central bank's managing director for oversight of financial organizations Csaba KANDRACS said, quoted by Reuters.

Read the full story

Although pipe bursts and storms are the risks causing each about one third of the housing insurance claims in Hungary, it seems people fear most fire damage and burglary, the latest edition of the Aegonʼs Great Home Test (Nagy Lakasteszt) shows.

Hungarian insurers reported 3Q 2018 aggregate GWP up by 9.2% y-o-y to HUF 777 billion (EUR 2.4 billion), according to the market data published by the National Bank of Hungary (MNB).

The board of CIG Pannonia Life Insurance decided on 28 November to raise capital at its general insurance unit by HUF 1.5 billion (~EUR 4.63 million) and modify the unit's dividend policy, Hungarian news agency MTI reports.

Read the full story

Read the full story

Top 5 Hungarian insurers accounted together for 58.6% of the market GWP in 2017, according to the market data published by MABISZ, the local insurers' association. On the non-life side, the Top 5 market weight is even bigger, of 69.7%.

According to the first estimations of the Hungarian Association of Insurers (MABISZ), local insurers paid HUF 3.17 billion (EUR 9.7 million) between May 1 and August 31 for over 57 thousand claims for damages caused to individual and condominium buildings by storms, rainstorms, lightning, and hail.

Hungarian insurers have reported consolidated GWP worth HUF 520.15 billion in 1H2018, by 7.1% up y-o-y. Yet, given the over 6% depreciation of the Forint against the European currency, the market results denominated in Euro show a total GWP volume of EUR 1.58 billion, only 0.6% up y-o-y.

Only 10-20% have an accident insurance, while in many countries of the Western Europe accident insurance coverage among their population is of more than 80%, The Budapest Business Journal reports. The low penetration leaves about 8 million Hungarians uninsured for the accident risk.

Read the full story

Read the full story

Extreme weather conditions have significantly affected Hungary during the first half of June, resulting in about 18,500 claims files worth a combined HUF 2 billion (~EUR 6.1 million) in losses, the local association of insurers said.