Insurance market: key figures of 2018
Over 2018, the total assets of insurance companies grew by more than 20% and exceeded 2.9 trillion rubles. The assets to GDP ratio increased by 0.2 percentage points over the year and totalled 2.82%. These figures are given in the Review of Key Performance Indicators of Insurers for 2018.
The main change in the overall structure of insurers' assets was an increase observed in the previous year in the share of state and municipal securities (by 7.0 pp to 19.9%). This can mostly be explained by the increase in investment life insurance premiums, where policyholders’ contributions go towards investment income, and where such contributions are a key part of the programme.
The growth in insurance premiums has risen from 8.3% in 2017 to 15.7% in 2018, a peak value since 2012. The total value of insurance premiums came to 1.479 trillion rubles. Nevertheless, the market began to show growth outside of life insurance. This was brought about by the high demand for loans among households, which was reflected in the dynamics of health and accident insurance, as well as car insurance. There have been qualitative changes in the OSAGO (third-party only car insurance) and KASKO (fully comprehensive insurance) segments, which facilitated their growth.
Insurance payouts increased by 2.5% and exceeded 522 billion rubles. Moreover, the increase in life insurance payouts amounted to 114.9%, which is linked with the sharp increase in investment life insurance payouts due to previously concluded three- and five-year contracts coming to an end.
Insurance companies' profits increased by more than 1.5 times and reached 204.1 billion rubles. This increase in profits can be explained by the increase in insurance companies' income from investments, as well as a decrease in losses and expenses. Insurance companies’ return on equity hit a peak of 31.2% over the past 2.5 years (with an increase of 9.3 pp over the year).
Developments in the insurance market in 2019 will be influenced by the rate of growth in lending to individuals, as well as the level of interest among households in investment life insurance policies following measures taken to increase public awareness of the risks of such policies.