Czech Republic
Czech insurance market
In the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2021 the insurance market in the Czech Republic continued to be dominated by the top 5 insurance groups, which together generate 85% of total premium volume.
Market growth in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2021 compared to the previous year
Source: Czech Insurance Association
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the growth of the Czech insurance market continued in the first nine months of 2021. Premium volume rose 4.7% year-on-year (based on the calculation method of the Czech Insurance Association ČAP) from CZK 105.8 billion to CZK 110.8 billion. The increase was due to growth in both the non-life and life sectors.
Premiums rose 5.7% in the non-life sector. The increase was driven by the dominant motor third party liability (+5.7%) and motor own damage (+6.7%) lines of business, although the growth rate was slower for both lines compared to the same period in the previous year. Both lines continue to benefit from a growing number of newly insured vehicles and rising prices. The non-motor lines of business also recorded an increase of 5.2%.
The life insurance sector recorded year-on-year growth of 2.7% in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2021. This sector is dominated by regular premium life insurance, which recorded a gain of 2.8%, while single premium business reduced by 2.5%.
According to calculations based on data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Czech Insurance Association, the average per capita expenditure for insurance in the Czech Republic was EUR 586 in 2020. EUR 382 of this amount was for non-life insurance and EUR 204 for life insurance.
Market shares of the major insurance groups
Source: Czech Insurance Association; as of 9M 2021
VIG companies in the Czech Republic
VIG Insurance Group is represented by two companies, Kooperativa and ČPP, in the Czech Republic. With a market share of 31.3% it is the largest insurance group in the Czech
Republic in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2021. It holds first place in the market for both life and non-life insurance.
The Group reinsurance company VIG Re, which has its headquarters in Prague, is assigned to the Group Functions segment.
Financial performance indicators in the Czech Republic reportable segment
Premiums by line of business
Values for 2020 in parentheses
Premium development
The VIG insurance companies in the Czech Republic segment wrote EUR 1,864.9 million in premiums in 2021, representing a strong increase of 7.7% (2020: EUR 1,732.4 million). This was primarily due to good performance in the motor lines of business as well as in the other property and casualty and regular premium life insurance lines of business. Net earned premiums were EUR 1,399.8 million in 2021 (2020: EUR 1,295.5 million). This represented an increase of 8.0% compared to the previous year.
Result before taxes
A result before taxes of EUR 186.9 million was recorded in the Czech Republic segment in 2021 (2020: EUR 192.1 million). This corresponds to a decline of 2.7% compared to the previous year, which mainly resulted from a decrease in the result in the life business due to higher acquisition costs in connection with the increase in new business.
Combined ratio
Due to an improvement in the claims ratio in the motor lines of business, the combined ratio continued to decline compared to the previous year to an excellent 90.1% in 2021 (2020: 90.7%).