In the first quarter, several thousand Romanians surrendered their life policies or withdrew part of the money accumulated in insurance accounts, so that redemptions paid by insurers totaled 90 million lei (around EUR21 million), according to data provided by the Insurance watchdog CSA.
The volume of compensations paid as total or partial redemptions shrank by almost 2% from the first quarter of 2010, but the decline is insignificant as the volume of redemptions virtually doubled in 2008 and 2009.
Last year, clients pulled the equivalent of EUR95 million out of insurance accounts, 5% less than in 2009, and market players say the level of redemptions will decline further as the economy recovers.
At the same time, life insurers paid compensations and sums related to maturing contracts worth RON70 million (EUR16.6 million) in the first quarter. Thus, insurers paid a total sum of RON160 million in the first three months of 2011, with almost two thirds for traditional insurance.