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Voluntary insurance market, an area of growing potential
Seven life insurance companies, 16 general insurance companies and 6 composite companies act in the insurance market in Romania and have generated over 1.72 billion of euro gross premiums subscribed in general insurances and 451 million euro of gross premiums subscribed in life insurances, said ASF president Leonardo Badea, present at the annual conference Insurance Europe.
According to him, there are 300 active intermediate companies in the market.
The Romanian insurance market is dominated by car insurances (73%), of which RCA represents 47%. At the end of 2018, the insurance penetration degree was 1.13%.
“From my point of view, the voluntary insurance market is an area of great growing potential. House insurance, CASCO, life and health insurances must grow, as a mature market is based on these insurance categories. Lately, financial consumer protection has become a growing priority for decision makers in the whole world. I think that in order to accelerate the maturity and development of the insurance market, we need a joint effort, as supervision authority and by companies which operate in the market. I refer both to insurance companies and brokers. This is a complex approach, which involves actions at various levels. On the other hand, we must show consumers that their rights and interests are protected according to legal decisions and no distortion of those principles is tolerated,” he said.
In Leonardo Badea's opinion, presenting all data on voluntary products should be a priority for everybody.
Badea reiterated that the people's low level of financial education represents one of the main obstacles in purchasing optional insurance.
“Unfortunately, we are not among the first European countries in this respect. That is why I consider we need ample financial education campaigns at all levels. A financially educated person can easily understand and decide when it comes to buying an insurance product.”