The insurance market approached pre-crisis economic levels in 2023, a year in which insurance companies paid out €2.4 billion in compensation to policyholders.

This is pointed out by the President of the Association of Insurance Companies, Alexandros Sarriyorgiou, in the annual report of the industry, noting among other things that:

"2023 was the year in which the application of the ENFIA deduction matured if one is sufficiently insured, which finally took place in January 2024. It is also the year when the Prime Minister announced the mandatory insurance of companies with a turnover of more than 2 million euros, which is currently being processed.

"Something is finally moving, but it is certain that we are still at the very beginning of a long journey of measures to be taken," he noted.

He added: 2023 was a favorable year for the Greek insurance market in terms of premium production. The market turnover reached €5.3 billion, which means that we are gradually approaching pre-economic crisis levels. We paid EUR 2.4 billion in claims to policyholders in all classes, fulfilling our mission.

The sector is a major institutional investor with EUR 17.4 billion of investments, which corresponds to 9.6% of GDP. No investment, no major project, is made without the participation of insurance. We are also long-term investors, exactly the kind of investor that supports the healthy economic growth of the country.

We have one of the highest solvency ratios in Europe, 193.5% solvency ratio in total, and we operate under very strict rules under the European Solvency II framework, with continuous monitoring and supervision.

And of course the insurance market is a big employer with almost 50,000 jobs—directly and indirectly—contributing to the country's employment."

Closing the insurance gap is mentioned as a key priority for the future. According to the relevant data, insurance penetration in Greece is around 17% in the residential sector, as out of 6.5 million homes, only around 1 million are insured, mainly due to the conclusion of mortgages. The insurance rate is higher for businesses, amounting to 40%, i.e., 200 thousand out of 500 thousand businesses (with at least one employee) are insured.

At the same time, in Greece, climate-related natural disasters (floods and forest fires) have a clear tendency to increase in incidence over the last 5 years (3-5 serious incidents every year). In 2023 alone, the amount of compensation reached 439 million euros, which is the highest in the last 30 years.