In the first quarter of 2026, insurance companies collected gross premiums of 820.2 million lei, which is 80 million lei, or 10.8%, more than in the same period of the previous year.
At the same time, insurance companies reported total claims payments of 386.2 million lei, which is 75 million lei, or 24.1%, more than the claims payments for the same period of the previous year.
The National Bank of Moldova (NBM) publishes these insurance market figures, noting that the market structure remains unchanged.
“Life” Insurance Is Not Valued
As in previous years, in the first quarter of 2026, Moldova’s insurance market was largely focused on non-life insurance. The main premiums and claims are related to auto risks.
Non-life insurance accounted for 96.7% of the total gross premiums received by insurance companies (792.9 million lei), while gross premiums received from life insurance amounted to 27.3 million lei, equivalent to 3.3% of total gross premiums. The growth rate of life insurance premiums also lags significantly behind: 4.2% compared to 11.1% growth in general insurance premiums.
The number of life insurance policies in force is also negligible. Of the total number of policies in force as of the end of March (approximately 1,350,000), only 2% are life insurance policies.
A lack of trust and the financial crises of the 1990s undermined the public’s faith in long-term savings programs. Insurers themselves say that these services are often perceived as an unnecessary expense rather than an investment in family security, while also acknowledging their own lack of interest in developing this segment.
Long-term investments are perceived as the riskiest by both parties, since not all insurers can guarantee the stability and profitability of payouts under current market conditions.
The insurance company GRAWE Carat Asigurări is the only one willing to assume these risks. Programs such as GRAWE Profit or GRAWE Orizont combine financial protection in the event of death with long-term capital accumulation and a guaranteed return consisting of two parts: a guaranteed interest rate (2–4%) and a variable profit share, which the company traditionally pays out as a bonus (up to 85%) of the profit generated from the successful investment of the company’s reserves in the financial market.
These savings plans are long-term in nature—with a minimum term of 10 years and a maximum of 45 years. Since this is a conservative investment vehicle, its returns are comparable to the rates on long-term foreign currency deposits at banks, but are supplemented by comprehensive financial protection in the event of health issues. Such a contract is mandatory when obtaining a mortgage from a bank to minimize the risk of default in the event of the client’s death or loss of earning capacity.
Car Ownership Comes at a High Cost
Of the total gross insurance premiums received from general insurance, the largest share is traditionally accounted for by mandatory civil liability insurance for car owners (domestic OSAGO, Green Card, TIR Carnet, CMR Carnet) and insurance for land transportation, excluding rail (CASCO).
Thus, auto insurance accounted for more than 65.3% of the market. This was followed by insurance against fire and other natural disasters, which accounted for 10.1% of premiums; accident insurance—8.1%; and other property insurance (primarily crop insurance) — 7.1% of total premiums written. For other types of insurance, the total gross premiums amounted to 75.2 million lei, or 9.4%.
In the first quarter of 2026, insurance companies reported total claims payments across these two insurance categories amounting to 386.2 million lei, which is 75 million lei, or 24.1%, higher than payments for the same period of the previous year. Of this amount, according to the NBM:
- 366.9 million lei, or 95.0%, consisted of compensation related to general insurance contracts, which was 69.9 million lei, or 23.5%, higher than in the previous year.
- 19.4 million lei, or 5.0%, consisted of amounts paid under life insurance policies (including annuities and payments under expired contracts), which is 5.1 million lei, or 35.9%, more than in the first quarter of 2025.
Of the total payouts, 224.3 million lei, or 58.1%, were attributable to compulsory insurance (domestic MTPL insurance, “Green Card”), which is 49.6 million lei, or 28.4%, higher compared to the same period last year.
Payments for domestic MTPL insurance totaled 180.7 million lei, which is 42.2 million lei, or 30.5%, more than in the first quarter of 2025. For international insurance (“Green Card”), insurance companies paid out 43.6 million lei, which is 7.4 million lei, or 20.2%, more than during the same period last year.
Apart from mandatory insurance, the most significant increase in payouts compared to the same period of the previous year was recorded in land transportation insurance, excluding railway insurance, (CASCO)—up by 16.2 million lei, or 19.1%, to 100.7 million lei—and in risk guarantee insurance—up by 5.3 million lei (in previous years, no claims were paid in this category).
According to NBM data, the average insurance indemnity for domestic civil liability insurance in the first quarter of 2026 amounted to 22,434.4 lei per unit, which is 1,966.2 lei per unit, or 9.6%, higher than during the same period of the previous year. For Green Card insurance, the average insurance payout for the same period was 93,643.5 lei per unit, which is 8,852.5 lei per unit, or 10.4%, higher.
Insurance Costs Are Rising
The level of claims payments in the general insurance sector in Moldova is indeed showing an upward trend, experts say. This is due to the fact that the growth in insurance indemnity amounts and the increase in the total number of claims are consistently outpacing the growth in gross premium income, which is clearly reflected in the combined ratio.
“The ratio of insurance claims to premiums (gross) or the claims ratio in the general insurance sector continued its upward trend, reaching 46.3% in the reporting period, which is 4.7 percentage points higher than in the same period of the previous year. It should be noted that values ranging from 32.5% to 68.5% were recorded for this indicator in the sector,” the regulatory authority noted.
In the context of market liberalization, companies’ financial stability is supported by high solvency margins and the application of an individual risk profile for each client.
Nevertheless, the NBM calculated that the aggregate operating ratio (ROC) across all insurance classes, excluding life insurance, continues to decline, indicating a drop in the sector’s productivity. In the first quarter of 2026, it stood at 98.6%, which is 4.9 percentage points lower than the average for the previous year.
Despite this, insurers managed to generate a combined profit—at the level of the insurance market as a whole, the net operating result was positive.
Return on equity (ROE) in the insurance sector stood at 14.3%, which is 10.4 percentage points higher than in 2025. Return on assets (ROA) was 4.5%, which is 3.2 percentage points higher than in the previous year. The ratio of the value of liquid assets to the value of total technical reserves in the market was 106.8%.
