The 17 insurance markets of the CEE region have ended the year 2020 with aggregated GWP of EUR 37.45 billion, less by 4.27% y-o-y. Yet, it is worth noting that five markets have recorded a positive dynamic in premiums terms.

At the same time, paid claims have seen a descending trend, decreasing by 8.2% y-o-y, to EUR 21.74 billion, thanks to a somehow milder year in Nat Cat losses terms and, at a certain extent, to the decrease in motor insurance claims as a result of the travel restrictions imposed by the pandemics.

Recording the strongest fall in GWP, of 8.3% y-o-y, the largest market in the region, Poland, has lost almost 2 percentage points of its share in the regional GWP volume, accounting by the end of 2020 for 36.7% of the regional premiums production.

On the life insurance side, GWP have decreased at a higher than average pace, of 7.35%, to EUR 11.58 billion, while indemnities paid have also decreased by 11.4%, to EUR 8.65 billion. However, a few markets - as Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro and Serbia -, have seen a positive evolution on the life insurance business segment. The largest part of the business volume decrease came from the Polish market, the largest in the region, which has recorded an almost 10% y-o-y decrease.

The non-life insurance business has lost less than expected of its dimensions, most markets performing better and recording results above expectations. Overall, non-life GWP amounted to EUR 25.87 billion, 2.82% less y-o-y. Paid claims have also decreased by almost 6% y-o-y, to EUR 13.09 billion. Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia have seen a positive dynamic despite the challenging conditions.

Motor insurance, while expected to at first to record a real fall due to the lockdown and travel restrictions, proved resilient, insurers managing to maintain their portfolios of customers. In the end, while Motor Hull GWP decreased by 1.36%, to EUR 5.36 billion, the MTPL line GWP fell by 3.5%, to EUR 8.47 billion. Paid claims have decreased by approx. 8%, to EUR 3.2 billion for the Motor Hull line and by 7.65%, to EUR 4.74 billion on the MTPL insurance line. While most countries reported a visible decrease in the number of motor claims, not the same trend was valid also for the average claims values. Overall, although the reduction in paid claims was not so important as expected, the technical ratios for this business segment have improved.