Quebec insurers see rise in premiums, decrease in claims in 2007

Property and casualty insurers in 2007 wrote a total of Cdn$7.3 billion in premium in Quebec, marking a 3.6% increase from 2006’s Cdn$7.1 billion, reports the Autorit des march financiers (AMF).
Automobile and property insurance premiums increased 3%, up nearly CDn$172 million from 2006, an AMF release says. Total premiums in these classes respectively stood at Cdn$3.084 billion and Cdn$2.840 billion.
Premiums related to liability rose 3.3%, to Cdn$908 million, an increase of Cdn$80 million over 2006. ‘Other’ classes of insurance also saw an increase of 11.3% in premiums from Cdn$453 million in 2006 to Cdn$504 million in 2007.
As for claims activity, the AMF says insurers licensed to operate in Quebec paid policyholders a total of Cdn$3.956 billion in 2007, down 10.4% from 2006’s Cdn$4.417 billion.
Based on activities across Canada in 2007, net earnings of damage insurers licensed to operate in Quebec fell from Cdn$5.413 billion in 2006 to Cdn$5.034 billion in 2007, a decrease of 7%.