Gross written premiums in Central East Europe (CEE) amounted to EUR 22.17 billion at regional level, up by almost 7% in 1H2022. At the same time, claims paid increased by 11.5%, to EUR 12.64 billion.
Except for Poland, all CEE markets saw a positive dynamic, in many cases at double-digit rates. Slovakia makes another exception from the general upswing trend, but of a different nature, rather statistical than strictly business: the merger of the Slovak insurer Generali with Generali Ceska Pojistovna from the Czech Republic, after which Generali in Slovakia operates as a branch of Generali Ceska pojistovna, its results not being included in the official statistics of the local supervisory authority.
Romania is by far the author of the impressive performance in this respect, with a 36% GWP growth rate. The Baltics and Czechia have also reported high growth rates.
The high growth rates are not making such good news as it may seem, as most of the growth is an inflationary one accompanied also by similar steep increases in paid claims.
It is not per chance the same countries that have seen the highest growth rates both in GWP and claims expenses, are also the countries with highest inflation.
The rising inflation rate led to the growth of prices of materials and services, and therefore higher payments of gross claims paid and higher gross operating expenses, as a result of which insurers adjusted insurance prices in most non-life insurance classes throughout the first half the year. The trend is mostly visible in motor insurance.
Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia are the Top 5 countries in total GWP terms, maintaining the hierarchy at the end of 2021.
However, there differences in the regional market share, as Poland lost almost 3 percentage points of its weight, mostly retrieved by Czechia (+1.5 pp) and Romania (+1pp).
