Piata asigurarilor

THE INSURANCE MARKET

At present there are 31 private limited insurance companies operating on
the Hungarian market with a registered seat in Hungary, of which 24 are
members of MABISZ.
There are still 33 insurance associations, of which 3 are members of
MABISZ.
Following the EU accession, 14 insurance companied of various Member
States established branch offices in Hungary, of which 3 are members of
MABISZ.
In 2008 the contract portfolio decreased by 0.4%, less than in the previous
year and contained 13,797,000 insurance contract.
The number of life insurance contracts increased by 0.9%. In the category of other
personal insurance policies accidents insurance contracts increased by
2.1%, health insurance contracts by 34.4%, but there was a major 23.2%
decrease in the number of travel insurance policies.
In total the number of non-life insurance contracts rose by 2.9%. Within the nonlife
business the largest growth was observed in corporate property
insurance contracts, which went up by 14.5%. The number of household
property insurance policies grew by 0.8%. In total, the vehicle insurance
contracts were up by 3.7%, including 2.9% increase in MTPL policies and
7.3% increase in casco (comprehensive) policies. The number of
agricultural insurance contracts dropped by nearly 9.6%, including a 10.3%
decline in animal insurance policies and 18.1% decline in plant related

insurance policies. The general liability insurance contracts grew by 2.1%

since the previous year. There was a considerable, 11% increase in the
number of shipment insurance policies, but the number of credit insurance
contracts fell by 0.7%.
In 2008 insurance companies generated HUF 886,636 million
premium revenues, which was 4.7%, nearly HUF 44 billion lower
than in the previous year. It is clear that as a result of the financial crisis,
the dynamic growth observed in the previous years stopped in H2 and
was followed by an unusual declining revenues especially in life insurance
revenues. The consumer prices went up by 6.1% in 2008, the GDP grew
by 4.5%, and the total disposable household income was 4.4% higher
than in the previous year.
The position of the market leader, Allianz Hungária Biztosító Zrt.,
improved by approximately 1.3 percentage points since last year, with 21.0%
market share in 2008. Similarly to the previous years, Generali-Providencia
Zrt. lay in second place with 15.1% market share, which increased by 0.2%
compared to the company market share in the previous year. The third place
was still held by ING Biztosító Zrt., still involved only in personal insurance
policies, holding 10.9% market share, which was 2.9 percentage points lower
than in the previous year. OTP Garancia Biztosító Zrt., which had been in
fourth place in the previous year, swapped places with AEGON
Magyarország Általános Biztosító Zrt., which moved up from the fifth
place in the previous year and was fourth with 9.8% market share, involving
1.4% growth since the previous year. OTP Garancia Biztosító Zrt., lying in
fifth place, held 8.9% market share, involving 0.6% decrease compared to 2007.
The overall share of the five companies grew from 65.6% in 2007 to 65.7%, i.e.,
there was practically no change in market concentration in 2008.
The total assets of insurance companies grew significantly, by 13.3% also in
2008 (by HUF 235 billion) compared to 2007. The share of insurance companies
as institutional investors also continued to rise on the capital market

Market share by insurance companies

Gross premium income and market share

by companies
Premium Income (HUF in millions) Market Share (%)
LIFE INSURANCE
In 2008 life insurance premium revenues amounted to HUF 461,683
million, which was nearly HUF 47 billion lower than in 2008, involving a
decline of 9.2%. The share of the life insurance business within the total
premium revenues fell from 54.7% in 2007 to 52.1% in 2008, but the annual
premium revenues of this business line were still by more than 2% higher
than the premium revenues of the non-life business line. However, the
favourable tendency of the previous years discontinued and turned around.
The life insurance premium reserves, representing a guarantee of sound
business operation and also a significant amount for potential investment,
were higher than HUF 692 billion in 2008, while the unit-linked life
insurance reserves were close to HUF 642 billion.
Within the premium revenues there was a major fall in the share of singlepremium
products (from 42.4% to 30.5%). Such premium revenues were
34.7% lower than in the previous year. The decline of the former ‘greatest
hit’ products was the main reason behind decrease of life insurance

Life insurance premium income by companies

Life Insurance Premium Life Insurance Premium
Income (HUF in millions) Reserve (HUF in millions)
NON-LIFE INSURANCE
The non-life insurance premium revenues grew from HUF 421,662 million in
2007 to HUF 425,899 million. The growth rate was 1.0%, more than 5 percentage
points lower than the annual rate of inflation (6.1%). The fierce price
competition among the companies had a major role in this moderate growth.
More than 57% of the total growth premium revenues of property and
liability insurance policies were revenues from vehicle insurance. One-third
of the revenues, 33.1% were originated from the mandatory third party
liability insurance alone.
Within the total growth property and liability insurance premium revenues
11.4% was earned from corporate property insurance, 20.3% from household
building and property insurance, 4.7% from general liability insurance, 2.3%
from agricultural insurance, 0.8% from shipment insurance.

Share of life insurance in total annual premium income

Life insurance

Non-life insurance

Compared to the 2.9% increase in the previous year, the gross claim
expenses (claim payment and variation of claim reserves) did practically
not change in 2008, and consequently the claim ratio improved from
52.6% to 52.4%.
The market share of Allianz Hungária Biztosító Zrt., the market leader
decreased from 35.1% to 34.2%, i.e., by 0.9 percentage points since 2007.
The market share of Generali-Providencia Zrt. in second place grew
from 19.6% to 19.9%.
AEGON Magyarország Általános Biztosító Zrt. was in third place,
increasing its market share from 8.1% to 9.8%. OTP Garancia Biztosító
Zrt. lay in fourth place and UNIQA Biztosító Zrt. came fifth. The
former one increased its market share from 8.1% to 8.8%, and the latter
one from 8.1% to 8.2%.