Romanians are increasingly investing in insurance

The Romanian insurance market registered, in 2024, a total volume of the gross premiums of 23.4 billion lei, up 11% compared to the previous year, according to a report published by the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF).

According to the quoted source, the share of general insurance in total subscriptions at the end of last year was 81%, while the weight of life insurance was 19%.

At the same time, the total value of the insurance premiums subscribed for RCA insurance by the companies authorized and regulated by ASF, branches and companies that carry out their activity based on the freedom to provide services (FOS) located at approximately 9.94 billion lei in 2024, increasing by 7% compared to the previous year.

Regarding the solvency of the insurance companies authorized and supervised by the ASF, the rates at the insurance market were maintained superunctive at the end of December 2024. Comparent the previous year, the SCR rate (the capital requirement, no) decreased, against the faster increase of the capital of solvency (+22%) to the capital requirement (+22%) Solvency (+18%), is mentioned in the statement.

‘The liquidity indicator for the general insurance activity (3.09) decreased slightly compared to the situation registered at the end of 2023 (3.14). The value of the liquid assets increased by 20%, and the short-term obligations of the insurers increased by 23%. In the case of life insurance activity, the indicator has increased. The improvement of the liquidity for the life insurance activity took place due to the increase of liquid assets by 18%, while the short-term obligations increased at a lower rate (+15%) compared to the end of 2023 ‘, the authors of the report say.

According to the quoted source, the total volume of paid gross allowances (including branches) was located at about 10.6 billion lei in 2024, of which 82% represent gross allowances paid for the general insurance activity, and 18% are for life insurance.

The total value of the investments of the insurance companies (including the assets held for UNITLINked) are 31.6 billion lei, up 17% compared to the end of 2023. The insurance companies in Romania are predominantly investing in fixed income instruments, mainly in government bonds, which have a share of about 66% in the total value of 2024 the authors of the report.

In 2024, no significant changes were intervened in the structure of the investment portfolio compared to the end of 2023. The share of investments in government bonds increased by 3.3 percentage points in total investments, due to 24% of the value of investments in government securities.

‘At the end of 2024, the value of the technical reserves according to the solvency regime II was at 22.1 billion lei, up 19% compared to the previous year. The positive dynamics was supported both by the increase of the value of the technical reserves for the general insurance activity (+23%), as well as by the increase of the value of the reserves for life insurance (+15%). From the total value of the technical reserves, 59% are constituted for the general insurance activity, and 41% for the life insurance activity ‘, the source mentioned.

At the same time, the degree of transfer in reinsurance from the perspective of the gross premiums subscribed for the general insurance activity has registered a significant decrease compared to the similar period of the previous year, but also compared to the other periods analyzed.

‘The value of the premiums distributed by the brokerage companies for Romanian insurers and branches (general and life insurance) increased by about 10% compared to the previous year, against the background of the volume of bonuses distributed for both segments (general insurance: +10% and life insurance: +19%)’, the report is also stated.

In 2024, the brokerage companies distributed about 69% of the total volume of the gross premiums subscribed for Romanian insurers and branches. The degree of intermediation for general insurance is 81.4%, and for life insurance is 13.39%.