Last year was reasonably successful for Albania’s young insurance market. The overall premium volume saw growth: gross written premiums reached around EUR5719m, more or less equal to the 2008 figure in euros. In fact, in euro terms the maintenance of the status quo could be seen as the best description of the market in 2009. However, in local currency the 2009 figures show a nominal growth in GWP of 11.28% compared with 2008 and a 13.05% increase in total gross claims paid.

The number of insurance contracts in 2009 was up 9.15% on the year to 755,669. The increase was in line with the rise of revenues from premiums. According to the 2009 Report of the Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority (AMF), this reinforces the sustainability of the industry’s development trend.

The Non-Life insurance business accounted for about 90.83% of the overall premium volume, leaving Life insurance with a 9.17% share. As for the market structure, voluntary insurance accounted for 47.31% of GWP and compulsory insurance for 52.69%.

GWP for the Motor compulsory insurance lines amounted to about EUR30.13m, down almost EUR2m on 2008. It should be noted that in Albania domestic MTPL insurance and Green Card policies are not integrated into a single product. Consequently, there are distinct products: DMTPL (the domestic MTPL), Green Card and Border insurance. The DMTPL line had the largest share, at about 65% of the compulsory motor insurance business, followed by the Green Card insurance at about 25%. Gross written premiums from DMTPL insurance amounted to about EUR19.61m, down 11%, although the number of contracts concluded was up 8.61% on the year year.

Life insurance premiums totalled EUR5.25m, up 25.45%. The AMF report noted that the participation of foreign investors with considerable experience in Life insurance resulted in the introduction of new life and health insurance products. As far as the paid claims amount is concerned, Motor insurance at EUR10.95m accounted for 86.22% of the total. According to AMF forecasts of trends in motor insurance classes, DMTPL average claims payments will increase by about 15% and those in Motor Hull insurance by about 7%.

Assessing recent developments in the Albanian Insurance market, the AMF estimates that it has not yet been significantly affected by the international financial crisis. This is related to the simplicity of the products traded on the Albanian market. AMF monitoring and analysis indicates that the market has shown stability in recent years and has considerably more room for further development.