Insurer Astra is still market leader, with underwritten premiums of 559 million lei (EUR131.7 million) in the first half of the year, and is followed by Allianz-Tiriac and Omniasig, with RON457 million and RON433 million, respectively. All of them saw turnover go down from the first half of last year.
Asirom reported a 30% decline in gross underwritten premiums, to RON369 million. The company recovered part of the market share it has lost in recent years, a target the insurer’s officials had set as early as the beginning of the year.
Two-digit turnover drops were registered by Groupama (fifth position) and Generali (eighth position). Their gross underwritten premiums fell by 12% and 14% to RON 351 million and RON201 million, respectively. The underwritten premiums registered by ING Asigurari – RON273 million, BCR Asigurari – RON232 million and Uniqa – RON200 million dropped by a single-digit rate, with the three insurers ranking sixth, seventh and ninth. The tenth position in the ranking is filled by BCR Asigurari de Viata, whose turnover increased 8.5%, to RON167 million.
While the first six months did not bring spectacular changes in the largest insurers’ ranking, such changes may emerge in the following period, as market consolidation is expected.
The majority stakeholder in Omniasig and BCR Asigurari, Austria’s Vienna Insurance, is ready to merge the two companies, which is likely to create a new leader on the domestic insurance market, with annual turnover of above RON1 billion. At the same time, Generali and Ardaf will operate starting next week under the umbrella of the same company, set to become the number five on the insurance market, given last year’s turnover. (EUR1=RON4.2449)
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)