Ireland-based Insurers Post Solid 2007 Results; GWP Over $31 Billion

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The Dublin International Insurance & Management Association (DIMA) has released its membership statistics for 2007. These show that the international non-life insurance and reinsurance sector in Ireland last year wrote in excess of €22 billion ($31.4 billion) in gross written premiums, while net premiums totaled more than €18 billion ($25.66 billion).

Dublin’s reinsurance community wrote €16.9 billion ($24 billion) in gross written premiums in 2007, according to DIMA’s survey, with net premiums of €15.2 billion ($21.66 billion).

DIMA’s bulletin noted: “These are the first statistics issued with respect to the Irish international reinsurance market since the Reinsurance Directive was transposed across Europe towards the end of 2007.

DIMA’s CEO Sarah Goddard commented: “Dublin has been developing as an international center for insurance and reinsurance for almost 20 years now. These figures reinforce the position of Dublin as one of the leading global re/insurance marketplaces, and we are delighted to say that we are still seeing new entrants to the market, despite the prevailing conditions in the wider business environment.”

Five companies joined the DIMA membership in 2007, and continued growth in 2008 is expected to be reflected in next year’s survey.

“The statistics, which are based on a voluntary questionnaire, show that around 900 people are employed in DIMA member companies,” said the bulletin. “The total assets of the DIMA members which responded to the survey were €81.1 billion ($115.6 billion) in 2007, total capital and surplus was €20.1 billion ($28.64 billion) and total cash and investments was €40.6 billion ($57.84 billion). The total tax paid by the survey respondents came to €612 million [$872 million].

“When asked about their business prospects for 2008, 80 percent of DIMA members said that they expected their business in Dublin to increase or stay the same this year.”

Source: Dublin International Insurance & Management Association – http://www.dima.ie

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