BRATISLAVA, March 8, (WEBNOVINY) — This year should be less exacting for the insurance sector with regard to subsiding economic recession. “Insurance sector in Slovakia still has potential for growth given indicators like the volume of written premiums versus gross domestic product, which is several-times lower in Slovakia than in western EU countries,” said Director General of the insurance company Generali Slovensko Vladimir Bezdek and added that the there is growth potential despite the economic recession.
The insurance company Generali Slovensko expects that the unfavorable development on the non-life insurance market registered over the past years will continue in the car insurance segment, which is unsustainable in a long term. Bezdek said that the loss in the car insurance segment is going deeper and there is a little chance for prices to go up. “The situation under current parameters is not sustainable in a long term and change will be inevitable in upcoming two or three years,” said Bezdek.
Property insurance will gain importance after experience with last year’s floods, which caused the most voluminous damages over the past twenty years in terms of the extent of reimbursement. Generali Slovensko assumes that the interest in this insurance will be growing. The insurer also expects pressure on price reduction along with the increased interest in property insurance. Nevertheless, the insurer often encounters the problem of underinsurance of households which is some kind of conscious act of people in order to save on property insurance.
Bezdek also refers to the question of government’s influence on the non-life insurance segment. The Cabinet suggested in the fall of last year that insurance companies should be obliged to insure state assets in risky areas. The current material of the Finance Ministry proposing that ministries should terminate insurance contracts would strip Generali off about EUR 1.5 million of annual written premiums. As of overall written premiums, this sum is insignificant, namely about 1 to 2 percent, says Bezdek.
Bezdek assumes that the life insurance market will accelerate despite subsiding recession. “If households’ budget sources stop decreasing, the life insurance market has potential to grow,” concluded Bezdek.
SITA
