Asirom remained the market leader, with RON661 million in gross written premiums, almost double the level of the first half of 2015. Asirom’s position is somewhat weakened compared with the first quarter, because Allianz-Tiriac, the second leading insurer narrowed the premium gap from RON78 million to RO63 million.
Asirom has seen significant growth in the past few months driven by sales of auto liability policies. Such policies accounted for 75% of sales of the insurer held by Austria’s Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) at the end of March. The insurer accounts for more than one quarter of the auto liability policy market.
The second leading general insurer, Allianz-Tiriac, sold RON589 million worth of policies in January-June, an increase of about 14% on the year-ago period. Auto liability and comprehensive insurance make up about 70% of Allianz’s business in Romania.
Third was Omniasig again as in the first quarter. Omniasig is another VIG company. VIG does not have aggressive auto liability policy sales strategy for this particular insurer, whose gross written premiums stood at RON456 million in the first half, slightly down on the first half of 2015. Omniasig is the only top five insurer not have to posted growth in revenue in the first half.
French-held Groupama, on the other hand, climbed two positions in the ranking to the fourth place after the first quarter. Its gross written premiums increased by about 13% to RON434 million in January-June.
Number five on the market in the first half is Euroins, with RON394 million in gross written premiums.
As the top five insurers’ gross written premiums reached RON2.5 billion in the first half, and they account for 55% of the market, total gross written premiums stood at more than RON4.6 billion. (EUR1=RON4.4515)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)