The Hungarian insurance market saw an about 5% y-o-y increase in GWP, to EUR 2.2 billion, data provided by MNB show. However, denominated in local currency (HUF, Hungarian Forint) the market results show a higher growth rate, of almost 12%, the difference reflecting the depreciation of the Hungarian Forint against Euro.

Claim expenses increased overall by 2.4%, to EUR 1.07 billion. However, this overall dynamic is the result of two very different trends seen on the life insurance and non-life insurance sectors: while in life insurance benefits and indemnities paid decreased overall by more than 10%, the non-life insurance saw a double-digit growth of the paid claims, of 19%.

Life insurance saw just a modest 1.35% growth rate (in Euro), to EUR 804.6 million, impacted by the decreasing popularity of the Unit-Linked products line, for which premiums went down y-o-y by about 2%.

Non-life insurance premiums, accounting for 63.5% of the entire portfolio, reached EUR 1.39 billion, 7.19% up y-o-y. Motor insurance and property insurance classes hold together about 54% of the non-life GWP and have generated almost 44% of the total volume of claims paid.

Mandatory MTPL insurance recorded a below average growth rate, of 6.8%, GWP reaching EUR 463 million. At the same time, paid claims for the LoB increased by 18.37%, reaching almost EUR 194 million.

The most significant change in claims paid, of 35.6%, was recorded for the property insurance class, mostly under the impact of extreme weather events that have affected repeatedly the Hungarian territory. According to MABISZ, the average damage produced by storms exceeds currently HUF 120,000, which is about twenty to forty percent higher than the amounts from a few years ago.

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