Damage insurance business in Québec stable in 2006
Insurance
Montréal – The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) today released the 2006 report on insurance. It notes that damage insurers with a licence to operate in Québec wrote premiums for a total of $7.1 billion in Québec in 2006, equalling the value of the premiums written in 2005.
The report, which was tabled today in the National Assembly by Minister of Finance Monique Jérôme-Forget, indicates that all categories were stable, with only slight variations noted. Automobile and property insurance premiums posted a combined growth of 0.5%, up just over $27 million from 2005. Respectively, total premiums in these categories for 2006 stood at $3.1 billion and $2.7 billion. With respect to liability and other categories of insurance, premiums amounted to $879 million and $453 million respectively in 2006, for a combined decline of 0.8%, or approximately $10 million.
Furthermore, with regard to claims, insurers licensed to operate in Québec paid policyholders a total of $4.4 billion in 2006, up 4.5% over 2005.
Based on their activities across Canada, net earnings of damage insurers licensed to operate in Québec rose from $3.9 billion in 2005 to $5.4 billion in 2006, for an increase of 38.6%. This growth in net earnings was in part due to an increase of $1.3 billion in insurance activity and higher investment income, which was up $378 million.
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| CATEGORIES | PREMIUMS WRITTEN - 2005 | PREMIUMS WRITTEN - 2006 | PREMIUMS WRITTEN - VARIATION | CLAIMS - 2005 | CLAIMS - 2006 | CLAIMS - VARIATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property | 2,636 | 7,067 | 2.4% | 1,838 | 1,916 | 4.2% |
| Automobile | 3,088 | 3,051 | -1.2% | 1,771 | 1,797 | 1.5% |
| Liability | 910 | 879 | -3.3% | 453 | 547 | 20.7% |
| Other | 433 | 453 | 4.6% | 165 | 158 | -4.4% |
| Total | 7,067 | 7,084 | 0.2% | 4,227 | 4,417 | 4.5% |
The 2006 report on insurance is available (in French only) on the AMF website.
The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec's financial sector.
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