Slovakia
Slovakian insurance market
The Slovakian insurance market is highly concentrated. The two largest insurance groups had a market share of around 56% in the first three quarters of 2020. The five largest insurance groups even generated around 77% of the premium volume.
Market growth in the 1ST to 3RD Quarters of 2020 compared to the previous year
Source: Slovak Insurance Association
Premium volume was around EUR 1.9 billion in the first three quarters of 2020, representing a year-on-year decrease of 3.9%. Both non-life (-2.8%) and life insurance (-4.9%) contributed to this decline.
According to the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), the decrease in the non-life sector was partly due to the marine, aviation and transport (-9.3%), health (-37.2%) and credit and guarantee (-20.6%) lines of business. The motor lines, on the other hand, were the growth drivers, with motor third party liability rising 3.5% and motor own damage insurance generating a solid gain of 5.9% in the first three quarters of 2020. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, volume was also depressed by the 8% tax introduced on non-life insurance products (except motor third party liability insurance) in the previous year.
According to NBS, the decrease in life insurance was the result of a 14.5% drop in life insurance with profit participation and a decrease in unit-linked and index-linked life insurance (-8.7%) compared to the same period in the previous year.
According to Axco Global Statistics, a per capita average of EUR 417 was spent on insurance premiums in Slovakia in 2019. EUR 232 of this amount was spent on non-life insurance and EUR 185 on life insurance.
Market shares of the major insurance groups
Source: Slovak Insurance Association; as of 9M 2020
VIG companies in Slovakia
Two VIG insurance companies, Kooperativa and Kommunálna, are represented in the Slovakian insurance market. Their market share of 29.6% puts them in first place in Slovakia. They hold second place for non-life insurance and first place for life insurance.
Financial performance indicators in the Slovakia segment
Premiums by line of business
Values for 2019 in parentheses
Premium development
The VIG insurance companies in the Slovakia segment wrote EUR 729.5 million in premiums in 2020, a decrease of 8.7% compared to the previous year (2019: EUR 798.9 million).
This was primarily due to a decrease in premiums in the life lines of business. Net earned premiums were EUR 597.3 million in 2020 (2019: EUR 671.6 million).
Result before taxes
The Slovakian companies generated a result before taxes of EUR 51.4 million in 2020 (2019: EUR 48.9 million). Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to an increase of 5.1%, which was due to the positive development in the combined ratio.
Combined ratio
The combined ratio for the VIG insurance companies in Slovakia improved to an excellent 89.0% in 2020 (2019: 97.1%). The improvement was mainly the result of better claims development, which was due to fewer large losses in other property and casualty insurance, among other things.