June 10, 2010 Insurance

Montréal – The 2009 report on insurance published by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), tabled today in the Québec National Assembly, highlights two main findings. On one hand, the overall financial health of the industry improved in 2009. On the other hand, personal and damage insurance companies in Québec have maintained a significant share of the market at 49.7% of written premiums.

Overall improvement in the financial health of the industry

Personal and damage insurance companies licensed to operate in Québec posted positive results in 2009. Net earnings posted by personal insurance companies increased to $9.1 billion in 2009, up over 60.0% over the previous year. As for damage insurance companies, net earnings were $2.8 billion in 2009, an increase of 16.1% compared with 2008.

The market share of Québec insurers fluctuates around 50%

The market share of damage insurance companies incorporated under the laws of Québec continued to grow in 2009, reaching 51.5%. Ten years ago, this share was 41.5%.

However, there was a slight drop of 1.4% in the market share of personal insurance companies incorporated under the laws of Québec, to 48.6% in 2009. It is important to mention that the trend observed over the past ten years shows an absolute growth of 7.4%.

As at December 31, 2009, 292 insurers were licensed to operate in Québec, namely, 109 in personal insurance, 179 in damage insurance and four in personal and damage insurance.

For more information about the personal and damage insurance industry in Québec, please consult the report (in French only) on the AMF website, under the heading Publications/Documents regarding the AMF/AMF annual reports.

The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is the regulatory and oversight body for Québec's financial sector.

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