The growth rate of car and property insurance fell 50%

Thus, at the end of last year, car insurance generated a volume of subscriptions worth some €1.5 billion, 64.5 percent of the €2.4 bln registered on the total market. Auto insurance increased 18.98 percent year-on-year in 2008, compared to almost 41 percent in 2007.

A similar trend was observed on the property insurance segment, whose growth rate fell to 13 percent from 24 percent. However, CASCO, RCA, and property insurance were the business lines that made up the general market trend, with a total volume of subscriptions in excess of €1.75 bln, or more than 73 percent of the total market.

The General Manager of the MARSH brokerage firm, Cristian Fugaciu, said he expects the industry to stagnate in 2009, considering that large clients are allocating less funds for the purchase of insurance products, and are demanding the restructuring of insurance programs.