The analysis of the insurance sector of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) for the third quarter of 2021 shows that the total insurance premium increased by 9.7 percent and amounts to 754 million euros.
Technical reserves, which show the ability of companies to pay damages, increased by 6.3 percent and amount to 1.8 billion euros.
The pandemic had no significant consequences for the insurance sector.
“The share of non-life insurance of 78.2 percent in the total premium is still dominant. Non-life insurance premiums increased by 10.6 percent, with property insurance, motor vehicle insurance – comprehensive and voluntary health insurance growing, as well as liability insurance for the use of motor vehicles, which after falling in the first quarter of 2020 continues to nominal growth,” the NBS analysis states.
The share of life insurance decreased due to higher growth of non-life insurance premiums.
What worries investors the most is the decline in deposits due to the jump in inflation. However, there are still ways to secure stakes.
The owner of the insurance sales agency, Dajana Petić, says that when investing in savings on our market, the greatest attention should be paid to ensuring that inflation does not devalue the value of the investment.
“Protecting a savings contract called indexation (monitoring the consumer basket) is the only way to protect your money from decay. Dinar investments through life insurance policies that have this type of protection, both legal and financial, I personally include to each of my policyholders. People who save and pay for savings in dinars absolutely remain protected, even though the contract for payment was agreed in euros,” Petic emphasizes for Biznis.
Our interlocutor believes that insurance companies that have started to apply this type of protection of deposits and insured persons have brought great benefits to savers.
“I like to tell my insured that they insure euros with dinar savings, and at the same time acquire the conditions for contracting private pensions,” explains Petić.
The NBS explains that the existing regulations governing the insurance business have created the preconditions for a significant step towards further convergence of the state of the insurance sector in the Republic of Serbia at the level of development of that sector in the European Union.
“Significant changes in the regulatory framework in the field of insurance supervision are expected only with full harmonization of regulations with the Insurance Distribution Directive and the application of Solvency II. The Insurance Distribution Directive provides solutions that further define the supervision and management of insurance products in order to ensure that these products meet the real needs of users. In addition, this directive prescribes the manner of informing users and distribution of insurance products, which improves the level of protection of the rights and interests of insurance service users,” the NBS explains.
Also, according to the latest data, there were 20 (re) insurance companies operating on the market of the Republic of Serbia, which is unchanged compared to the same period last year, with an increase in the number of employees to 11,316, at a rate of 1.1 percent, Biznis reports.
