The Insurance Market in Bulgaria, September 2004

p >At the end of august 2004, the second consecutive survey was conducted to study and assess the insurance market and services in Bulgaria in one year period. The survey was representative of the country’s adult population. The size of the two-stage cluster sample was N=1000 covering the whole territory of the country. Information was collected by the method of the face-to-face in-home interview.

The results of the survey indicate that the role of insurance companies as independent and sustainable players in Bulgarian financial market is augmenting. The rate of use of individual insurance services is marking a significant rise in comparison with previous year (July 2003, N = 1057). Whilst in 2003 one in four respondents said they held some type of insurance policy, the same share in 2004 is reaching the 40% level (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1. Insurance Policy Held at the Present Time – share of people having any insurance (%)

Base: June’03 N = 1057; August’04 N = 1000

For the second year the most popular Civic Liability insurance companies are the financial group DZI-Roximbank, Bulstrad, and Allianz Bulgaria (Table 1). The same companies were also among the preferred ones for the purchase of motor insurance policies.

TABLE 1. MOST POPULAR INSURANCE COMPANIES FOR BASIC TYPES OF MOTOR INSURANCES

	Civic Liability		Avtokasko		Green card		Accident
	VII' 2003	IX' 2004	VII' 2003	IX' 2004	VII' 2003	IX' 2004	VII' 2003	IX' 2004
Allianz Bulgaria	14,2	12,2	8,0	15,6	-	0,0	23,6	19,1
Orel-G Insurance Company	12,2	5,9	7,5	2,5	-	0,0	11,8	0,0
Financial group DZI-Roximbank	20,1	27,9	12,4	19,9	-	0,0	-	18,9
Bulins	1,5	4,5	5,6	16,8	-	26,1	-	0,0
Bulstrad	16,7	22,8	9,8	16,2	100,0	0,0	20,9	29,9
Armeets Insurance Company	1,5	2,6	2,8	17,1	-	20,6	-	0,0
Vitosha Insurance Company	9,7	6,2	6,8	4,2	-	0,0	10,1	0,0
Jupiter Insurance Company	2,5	1,9	-	0,0	-	25,3	-	0,0
Bulgarski Imoti	3,5	3,1	5,2	0,0	-	0,0	21,9	8,6
ING Bulgaria	n/a	0,8	n/a	0,0	n/a	0,0	n/a	8,6
Evroins	0,9	3,6	-	6,5	-	0,0	-	4,7
Evropa International Insurance Company	1,0	0,8	-	0,0	-	0,0	-	0,0
Doverie	1,5	0,3	2,3	0,0	-	0,0	-	0,0
Hannover Insurance Company	0,5	0,5	2,8	0,0	-	0,0	-	0,0
Levski Spartak Insurance Company	0,5	3,5	-	3,0	-	0,0	-	0,0
Other	-	n/a	2,4		0,0		0,0
DK/NA	13,6	3,5	34,5	3,5	-	28,0	11,8	10,3
Base	221	328	41	80	1	5	10	15

A detailed analysis of the examined problem areas is to be found in the full version of the Insurance Market in Bulgaria report. The latter can be purchased from Vitosha Research Agency and contains the following indicators:

• Size of the Insurance Market and Use of Insurance Services.
  • Objective information about premium revenues for 2004 and 2003.
    
  • Use of insurance services by the population - comparison aspects.
• Basic types of insurances.
  • Rate of use of insurance services by insurance types for August 2004 and July 2003.
    
• Trust in insurance companies.
  • Tendencies in assessments concerning trust in particular companies.
  • Rate of trust in comparison.
    
• Potential insurance service consumers.
  • Share of the respondents who intend to purchase insurance policies in the future – comparison August 2004 and July 2003.
  • Types of insurances – comparison August 2004 and July 2003.