YEREVAN, December 25, /ARKA/ London-Yerevan insurance company paid a total of 207 million Drams of insurance payments in the first nine months of the year, by 70 million Drams more than it paid in the same time span last year, its executive director Aram Piruzian said Thursday.

In an interview with ARKA news agency he said the company’s assets grew by 264.8 million Drams in the first nine months of the year from a year before to 1.384 billion Drams and the company’s liabilities grew by 7 million Drams to 595.5 million Drams.

Aram Piruzian said the financial and economic crisis has affected the insurance premium collection rate

but not much and the full-year rate will be down 10% from a year before.

London-Yerevan insurance company was established in 2000 by British Londongate group, consisting of companies operating in Great Britain, East Europe, CIS and Africa. It offers vehicle, health, travel, property, accidents insurances. Its authorized capital as of December 1 stood at 575 million Drams, assets at 1.4 billion Drams and liabilities at 595 million Drams, by 7 million Drams less than in 2008.

There are 12 insurance companies in Armenia with aggregate assets of 14,2 billion Drams and 4.3 billion Drams liabilities. At the end of September, 2009 their equity capital totaled 9.9 billion Drams, the aggregate capital stood at 7.9 billion Drams. They all earned 1.4 billion Drams of net profits in the first nine months of the year. Insurance companies are supervised by Central Bank of Armenia.  -0-