Insurance compensations of 26.5 million euros paid in 2020 for property insurance

Compensation amounting to 26.5 million euros was paid within 2020 by insurance companies for property insurance (7.7 million euros for housing and 18.8 million euros for other risks) while a stock of outstanding claims was formed on 31/12/2020 € 59.6 million (€ 10.3 million for housing and € 49.3 million for other risks).

This results from a survey of the Association of Insurance Companies of Greece and it is noted that for the insurance contracts issued in 2020, 16,191 losses were declared in 2020, of which 49.8% were related to housing and the rest to other risks.

It is pointed out that the outstanding claims declared above refer to the initial assessment of the first year (year of issue of the insurance policy). Both the amount of losses and the final amount of compensation for these contracts will vary considerably when adding down-to-date contract information that is not available at the time of writing, until the expiration of all contracts issued within of the year.

Recording of insured risks

The Association’s survey collected data on 1.3 million contracts issued in 2020 and some of which remained in force until 2021. It is noted that the number of contracts also included co-insurance contracts, while in the case of group contracts, it was requested that the number of risks covered be recorded. Where breakdowns were provided for payment of installments, they were counted as a total contract.

The vast majority of contracts were for housing (1 million or 82.6% of the total). The total insured value in terms of cumulative fire coverage (building and content) and loss of profits was of the order of 435.2 billion euros, of which 120.9 billion euros related to home insurance and 314.3 billion euros to other risks.

The aggregate figures of the survey for 2020 show that for the industry as a whole, the number of losses (average frequency) corresponds to 1.28% of the number of contracts in force (respectively 0.77% for homes, 3, 67% for other risks). The size of the average frequency is expected to increase, according to the claims statements that will arise for those contracts that were in force beyond 31/12/2020 (but were issued within 2020) and until their expiration.

The average loss (according to the damage assessment in the first year) reached 5,319 euros (2,232 euros for homes, 8,385 euros for other risks), according to available information. The average cost of total risk is estimated at 68 euros and it is estimated that the ratio of compensation to insured funds for all risks will be 0.41 ‰ at the end of the second year and 0.51 ‰ over eight years (housing and other risk indicators will increase respectively).

Regarding mediation, it appears that the predominant form of intermediation in property insurance was non-exclusive cooperation with agents (39.6% of the total premium production of the sector), followed by cooperation with banks (30.3% respectively) .