Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Insurance, Society

All in all, as also previously, Lithuanian (78.9) customers are the happiest with their insurance this year, followed by Latvian (75) and Estonian (74.1) consumers.

Estonia

The results for individual companies in Estonia also follow the positive trend this year. The biggest increase in satisfaction scores experiences IF customers (+5.6 points), also Swedbank customers became happier (+4.7), while the change for the group of “other” is the smallest (+1 point). With these changes, the best evaluations this year are for ERGO (75 points out of 100), with only 0.1 points difference above evaluations of “other” insurers (74.9). Lowest evaluations, despite the increase in evaluations, are for Swedbank (73.2) and IF (73.0).

Latvia

The evaluations of insurance companies follow slight negative trend in comparison to the results of 2011. However, changes are not significant (between 0.1-1.3 points on a 100 point scale). Therefore the ranking is same as last year: BTA is leading with the evaluation of 75.7 points out of possible 100, group of “other” insurers is on the second place (74.9), but Balta is only third with 73.4 points.

Lithuania

In Lithuania, the evaluations for Ergo decreased this year in comparison to previous year by -2.8 points, while the results for Lietuvos Draudimas increased by 2.8 points. The clients of smaller insurance companies are also happier this year by 5.8 points. Only satisfaction of PZU clients had no significant change in comparison to 2011. All in all, Lietuvos Draudimas is leading among biggest insurance companies this year with 79.4 points out of 100. Average evaluations of customers of smaller insurance are exactly same. PZU results are the lowest: 76.8 points.

Nordic and Baltic Insurance trends 2012

The Insurance sector has been measured in the majority of Nordic countries since year 1999 in annual studies. The coverage has successively been increased and since 2007 General Insurance for both final Consumers and Corporate Customers is covered in the majority of the Nordic markets. In 2008 the assessment has also been added in the Baltic countries (only for private general insurance).

Below a few key trends and benchmark results are given for 2012.

General Insurance Private Consumer segment

In the diagram below, the private consumers in the respective country give the scores to their General Insurance company. The average for the Nordic region (calculated as the GDP-weighted average of the respective country result) has increased significantly during the period 2004-2012. The financial turmoil, experienced in all the studied countries during the previous years, seems lost any negative effect on satisfaction. Satisfaction in General insurance sector is, to a large extent, driven by trust and it is clear from the results that the citizens have (at least) equally high trust in their insurance company now as before the crisis in majority of countries.

The Nordic average is higher this year than measured ever before. Finland is still on top among the Nordic countries, while Lithuanian customers give the overall highest satisfaction scores to their General insurance company. Norway is lagging behind. We see a slight increase in the spread between countries this year compared to 2011. At the same time it is worth noting that the spread between (main) companies in the respective country has a tendency of convergence over time (with a few exceptions).

In addition to the above countries where coordinated national studies are conducted on an annual basis, more focussed insurance sector studies are also conducted by EPSI. As an example it can be mentioned that the latest vehicle insurance study in Russia gave an average satisfaction score of 73.4. More information on such specialised studies may be obtained from the EPSI Research office.