VIG sees 19.5 market share in Romania in 2014

Newsroom 14/04/2015 | 10:58

The ongoing restructuring and recent improvements in the market situation have returned the leading insurance group in Austria and the CEE region Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) to earnings area in Romania.

According to a press release, VIG was aware that this sustainability-oriented restructuring of the portfolio would cause a decrease in premiums. The group nevertheless remains the market leader in the Romanian insurance market with a market share of 19.5 percent. Although the combined ratio was dramatically reduced, it still remains above the 100 percent mark.

VIG earned EUR 9.1 billion in group premiums under challenging conditions in the financial year 2014. This was an increase of 0.9 percent when adjusted for currency effects, and was achieved in spite of a further decrease in short-term single-premium business in Poland and reductions in the Italian and Romanian portfolios due to optimisation measures. The performance is underlined by a significant improvement of around 4 percentage points in the combined ratio, reducing it to 96.7 percent.

In the CEE region, the combined ratio even amounted to 93.4 percent. The group’s financial result of EUR 1.1 billion was reduced by a write-down of Hypo Alpe Adria / Heta bonds and the initial effects of the current low interest rate environment. Vienna Insurance Group investments, including cash and cash equivalents, were EUR 31.1 billion at the end of the financial year 2014, representing an increase of 4.5 percent.

VIG raised its profit before taxes by 46 percent to EUR 518.4 million. The share of profit contributed by the CEE region grew to about 64 percent.