Banks, Financial Services, Insurance, Lithuania

“Normally the year-end is the ‘most fertile’ for insurance undertakings. This year already the first quarter is a great success. The double-digit growth rates of life assurance premiums were driven mainly by unit-linked life assurance. With a decline in the interest rates on deposits, insurance policy holders looked for alternatives for saving, which were riskier yet likely more profitable. The growth rates of the non-life insurance market were less robust; however, in terms of premiums written, it also reached its best result”, says Mindaugas Šalčius, Deputy Director of the Prudential Supervision Department of the Supervision Service at the Bank of Lithuania.

In the life assurance market, in the first quarter of 2015, 14% more premiums were written year on year, while their amount reached record heights — EUR 50.7 million. The amount of premiums written within the unit-linked life assurance class, which accounts for the largest share of life assurance premiums written, boosted by 15.9% this year —  to EUR 34.5 million. 

The demand for conservative investment sources boosted as well: EUR 12.0 million premiums in case of survival were written, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%.  The volumes of annuities and insurance in case of death grew strongly as well, with their growth rates reaching 8.9% (EUR 1.3 million and EUR 2.7 million of premiums were written respectively).

In the non-life insurance market, over the first quarter of this year, 3.6% more premiums were written year on year; they amounted to EUR 100 million. This is EUR 1 million ahead of the best result ever, achieved in the first quarter of 2008.

Growth in the non-life insurance market was driven mainly by changes in the property and health insurance classes. The amount of premiums written in the property insurance class grew by 11.3% — to EUR 22.8 million. The health insurance class has been posting stable enduring growth and a record volume of insurance is recorded annually due to an increase in the premiums written within the additional voluntary health insurance sub-class. In the first quarter of 2015, EUR 12.1 million premiums were written within the health insurance class, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%.

During the first quarter of this year, undertakings earned EUR 9.3 million in profits, a year-on-year decrease of 13%.