Over the third quarter, insurance premiums rose by 9.6% as compared to the same period last year, totalling 396.8 billion rubles. The January—September figures were affected by a drop in premiums seen in the second quarter when the pandemic-related restrictive measures came into force. As a result, insurance premiums for the nine months grew by 3.1%, exceeding 1.1 trillion rubles, reports the Review of Key Indicators of Insurers.
In the third quarter, growth was mainly driven by endowment and credit life insurance. Favourable environment in the household lending market was the main growth factor. It was possible thanks to concessional mortgage programmes and the fact that banks actively promoted investment products — including endowment life insurance — as alternatives to deposits.
All main types of insurance enjoyed higher premiums, except for voluntary health insurance. This segment was severely affected by spending cuts and many SMEs leaving the market after showing high demand for voluntary health insurance in 2019.
As all main industries and households resumed their activities, the number of insured events went back to normal in the third quarter. Thus, third quarter insurance payouts grew by 13.5% and amounted to 168 billion rubles. This indicator is still heavily affected by a large-scale expiration of medium-term investment life insurance contracts. Over the nine months, total payouts equalled 464,7 billion rubles.
Over the same period, insurers’ profits rose by almost a quarter, up to 230.6 billion rubles, resulting from investment activities. Russian insurers’ return on equity over the nine months hit its all-time high of 34.6%. Insurers’ financial results are largely shaped by their spendings, a half of which is intermediaries’ fees, as the figures for the nine months show.
See PDF here: https://www.cbr.ru/Collection/Collection/File/31715/review_insure_20Q3.pdf
This news item was originally published by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR RU). For more information, see the Source Link.
