Growth in personal insurance in Québec in 2006
Organization Insurance
Montréal – The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) today released the 2006 report on insurance, which notes that personal insurance companies operating in Québec sold premiums for a total of $9.7 billion in Québec in 2006, compared with $9.5 billion in 2005, a 2.5% increase in written premiums.
The report, which was tabled today in the National Assembly by Minister of Finance Monique Jérôme-Forget, indicates that accident and health insurance premiums in 2006 were up 5.0% to $4.6 billion, while life insurance premiums increased 3.3% to total $3.8 billion. Annuity contributions fell 7.3% in 2006 to $1.3 billion. However, sales of annuity products for Québec-chartered insurers rose 5.8%, pushing their market share in Québec to 55.6%, from 48.8% in 2005. Individual annuity contributions rose 7.7% in 2006, while group annuity contributions were up 3.3%.
Benefits and dividends paid by insurers to Québec policyholders grew by 1.9% in 2006. This variation in benefits was not constant across all categories, with life insurance posting an increase of 7.1%, and accident and health insurance up 7.3%. Annuity benefits, meanwhile, decreased by 8.9%. The volume of life insurance in Québec reached $649 billion in 2006, consisting of $380 billion for individual insurance contracts and $269 billion for group insurance contracts. The report also reveals that the average amount of coverage per individual insurance contract purchased in Québec totalled $84,928 in 2006, compared with $80,362 in the previous year.
Finally, based on overall activities in Canada, net earnings posted by personal insurance companies licensed to operate in Québec totalled $8.8 billion, representing a 22.4% increase over 2005 results. In addition, assets in segregated funds held by these insurers in 2006 reached $374.8 billion on a consolidated basis.
| CATEGORIES | PREMIUMS WRITTEN - 2005 | PREMIUMS WRITTEN - 2006 | PREMIUMS WRITTEN - VARIATION | BENEFITS PAID - 2005 | BENEFITS PAID - 2006 | BENEFITS PAID - VARIATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Life insurance | 3,714 | 3,835 | 3.3% | 1,608 | 1,723 | 7.1% |
| Annuities | 1,447 | 1,342 | -7.3% | 2,262 | 2,060 | -8.9% |
| Accident and health insurance | 4,350 | 4,570 | 5.0% | 2,937 | 3,153 | 7.3% |
| TOTAL | 9,511 | 9,747 | 2.5% | 6,807 | 6,935 | 1.9% |
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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