The consolidated net profit of the Slovak insurance market amounted, in 2014, to EUR 181.09 million, 13.4% up y-o-y, according to data provided by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS). "The amount is the second highest in history, while the maximum, EUR 188 million, was reached in 2011," Julia CILLIKOVA, Director of the NBS Regulation and Financial Analysis Department, told XPRIMM.

Overall, GWP amounted to EUR 2.105 billion, 1.14% up y-o-y, recording a quasi stable evolution on the life insurance side (EUR 1.16 billion; 0.27% down y-o-y) and an almost 3% growth on the non-life insurance segment (EUR 938 million).

The slightly negative change in life GWP came mostly from the new production (down 3.13% y-o-y). However, the trend could be rather a consequence of significant growth recorded in 2013 due to "the change in technical interest rate for discounting of technical liabilities. The maximum technical rate is 1.90% from the January 1st 2014 instead of previous 2.5%. This change was used by insurers to gain new clients till the end of 2013, which explains almost the same level of premium and higher number of new policies in 2013 in comparison to 2014", explained the NBS representative.

According to the NBS provisional data, "the number of total policies decreased by 5.3% in classic life insurance, premium for new production decreased by 10% and surrenders increased by 1/5 in comparison to previous year. Premium for Unit-linked products increased by 2.2% (technical provision increased by 11%) while the number of policies went up by 2.5%."

After two years of decrease, overall premium in non-life went up by 2.9% to the amount of EUR 939 million.

Among the main business line, the higher GWP growth was recorded for the Motor Hull line (+ 2,2%), although the average premium went down as compared with the previous year. As Ivan PODSTUPKA, Manager for Communication, Slovak Insurance Association told XPRIMM, "ageing is not a notable phenomenon for the national Slovak car fleet, as the cancellation of import duty for cars in the middle 90s and the introduction of a "scrap" program - which rewards every car owner when deciding to replace his old car with a new one with EUR 2,000 per vehicle -, helped maintaining a reasonable average age of the car fleet. "The structure of the fleet is not a serious problem even for insurance companies, or in terms of safety," said PODSTUPKA.

Access www.xprimm.com and download the FY2014 Slovak insurance market statistics.