The non-life insurers' expenses totaled €38 million over the same period, the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) reported, according to BNS,

Additionally, the total value of assets of insurance companies declined by €27 million on year, to  €910 million at the end of Q1 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic was the main factor behind the decline, with travel insurance demand falling due to movement restrictions and motor insurance claims also seeing a drop, due to a reduction in mobility and also favorable weather conditions, BNS reports, though market volumes actually rose.

Non-life insurers Q1 2020 quick facts:

• The insurers together brought in €154 million in premiums in Q1 2020.
• The volume of the Estonian non-life insurance market stood at €99 million, an increase of 1.3 percent.
• Claims against policies totaled 84 million euros during the quarter, 4.4 percent lower than the same period in 2019.
• The combined ratio of non-life insurers was 87.4 percent in Q1 2020, thanks to the reduction in claims.
• Insurers significantly reduced tariffs in the motor sector, due to reduced claims.
• The market share of branches on the Estonian market remained at 29 percent of the total portfolio, though this is likely to rise to around 40 percent in the second half of the year due to changes at one of the major insurers (Seesam) involving a switch to branch status.
• The volume of own funds fell 6 percent to €381 million, the result of the COVID-19 pandemic pushing down the value of investments.
• Related to the above, coverage of capital requirements in the non-life insurance sector declined from 201.3 percent at the end of 2019 to 195.8 percent at the end of Q1 2020, as the sum total of total of the capital charge declined significantly less than own funds, BNS reports.
• Four of the firms covered are pan-Baltic, ie. have branches in Latvia and Lithuania as well as Estonia.

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