“Some insurers completely changed the way their networks operate and laid off employees, others have a restructuring target and others are experiencing heavy losses and have to cut costs,” said Viorel Vasile, general manager of Safety Broker.
All seven major insurers reduced the number of employees in 2013. The decline in nominal terms of the number of employees stood at more than 1,500 people. Most people were laid off by Omniasig, Uniqa and Asirom, 291, 274 and 252 respectively.
Uniqa and Generali saw the biggest decline in number of employees as a percentage of the total, 21%, while Groupama the lowest, 6% and became the largest employer in the insurance industry, with 1,858 people. It ranks fourth by gross written premiums.
Omniasig fell to second place with 1,635 employees after 800 people left the company in the last two years. The insurer posted almost half a billion lei (about EUR100 million) loss in the past two years and was forced to massively restructure its business.
The decline in the number of employees in the insurance sector during the crisis overlapped with a decline in the number of branches and offices and the takeover of part of the business by insurance brokers. Insurance brokers generated almost half of the sales of insurers last year.
“Sales force is normally moving to brokers. Sometimes brokers take over entire branches,” Viorel Vasile said.
About 5,000 employees in the insurance sector have left or have been laid off in the past five years, according to the National Statistics Institute.
Viorel Vasile believes the restructuring of the insurance companies will continue, albeit slower, considering the overall market is in the red.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)