Renaissance Insurance Group, a digital leader in the Russian insurance market, increased premiums for life insurance products in 2021 by 24% to RUB 57 billion[i]. According to the All-Russia Insurance Association (ARIA) data, which was released today, Russia’s life insurance market grew by 22% in 2021 to RUB 553 billion. According to the ARIA, as of the end of the year, Renaissance Life, which is part of Renaissance Insurance Group, was the largest independent life insurance company in the country and the fourth-largest in terms of overall gross written premiums (GWP).

Growth in Russia’s life insurance market in 2021 was driven mainly by sales of endowment and credit life insurance:

• Renaissance Life premiums for endowment life insurance in 2021 increased by 46% to RUB 10.9 billion, while the market grew at a rate of 14,6%. As a result, Renaissance Life’s share of the endowment life insurance segment increased from 5.5% in 2020 to 7.0% 2021.
• Renaissance Life premiums for credit life insurance more than doubled in 2021 (increasing by 103%) to RUB 24.1 billion, compared to market growth of 39%. As a result, Renaissance Life’s share of the credit life insurance segment rose from 12.2% in 2020 to 17.7% in 2021.

Yulia Gadliba, CEO of Renaissance Insurance Group, said: “Last year was very successful for our key business lines. Despite the recent high levels of growth, Russia’s insurance market is still under-saturated compared the size of the economy and relative to other countries. This represents a significant growth opportunity for our business. In life insurance we are focusing on developing endowment and credit life products. We see that our offering is sought after by customers and we believe there is good potential for growth in these segments of the Group’s business.”

Oleg Kiselev, CEO of Renaissance Life, said: “We are proud of the fact that we outgrew the market in 2021 and greatly increased our share of the endowment and credit life insurance segments. In-house sales channels with no intermediary were key growth drivers in terms of endowment life insurance. Our investments in business digitalisation are paying off: sales via our digital platform accounted for over 30% of the increase in premiums. The doubling of credit life insurance premiums was driven by the successful development of existing and new partnerships, as well as growth in loan issuance by banks in Russia.”