Vienna Insurance Group’s premium development in Romania down by 7.5 pct in Q1

The premium development in Romania of Vienna Insurance Group went down by 7.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, a negative impact brought by the regulatory cap the government placed on motor third party liability premiums.

However, the group registered an overall improvement of the financial situation in the first quarter of the year.

“All our key performance indicators are showing a clear improvement compared to the 1st quarter of the previous year and are thus fully in line with our plans. The good economic outlook for both Austria and our Central and Eastern European markets makes us highly confident that we are on course for continued success in 2017,” said Elisabeth Stadler, chairwoman of the Managing Board of Vienna Insurance Group.

Total premium volume reached around EUR 2.72 billion in the first three months of 2017, corresponding to an increase of 0.5 percent compared to the first quarter of 2016.

Single premium life insurance business continued to decline (-22.1 percent). Excluding single premium products, premiums increased by +4.2 percent year-on-year. Health insurance, one of the growth segments identified in the “Agenda 2020” management programme, recorded the largest increase, with premiums rising by 12.5 percent to EUR 150.7 million. In motor vehicle insurance, the own-damage line of business recorded strong premium growth of 10.7 percent (EUR 284.4 million), while premiums for third party liability insurance declined slightly by 0.6 percent (EUR 368.5 million).

Highly positive premium development was recorded in the neighbouring countries of Hungary (+46.5 percent), Slovakia (+10 percent) and the Czech Republic (+5.1 percent). In the Remaining CEE segment, consisting of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine, premiums rose by +12.4 percent, with Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina being the fastest growing markets. The Turkey/Georgia segment also recorded double-digit premium growth of +17.7 percent. Except for Slovakia and Serbia, where growth was driven by life insurance (unit-linked single premium life insurance), the increases were mainly due to property and casualty insurance.