Large insurance companies felt the effects of the crisis of the last few years and many of them reported double-digit decline in policy sales and tens of millions of euros in losses. To curb further losses, most companies resorted to massive staff cuts.
At the end of last year, nearly 15,300 Romanians worked in the insurance industry, 2,400 fewer than in 2008, according to data published by the Insurance Supervisory Commission (CSA). Major players on the market have cut their employee numbers in the past three years to adjust their spending to the revenue decline.
The largest number of layoffs from the beginning of the crisis until December last year was reported by Generali, which cut its personnel to half. Generali Asigurari and Ardaf merged last autumn and the newly-formed company had 895 employees at the end of last year, while in 2008 the two insurers together had 1,841 employees.
The revenue decline amid lack of demand for insurance products, coupled with high damage claims, led to the layoff of 710 employees at Asirom, a top-five general insurance company. Asirom’s personnel declined 33%, the second-largest staff cut on the local insurance market.
Groupama, controlled by the French group of the same name, cut its personnel by 30%, to around 2,000, in an attempt to restore its finances, after posting losses of tens of millions of euros in the past few years. The insurer entered the Romanian market in 2009, through the merger of Asiban and BT Asigurari.
Personnel cuts mainly targeted the general insurance market, which has been significantly hurt by the crisis.
The general insurance market ended last year with gross written premiums of 6.7 billion lei (EUR1.3 billion), down 7.5% on the previous year.
On the other hand, the life insurance segment kept afloat, and employee numbers on this segment even increased slightly. ING Asigurari and BCR Asigurari de Viata, the largest companies on the life insurance market, boosted their personnel by 4% and 7% respectively between 2008 and 2011.
Astra Asigurari also hired more staff and had 1,760 employees at the end of last year, 21% more than in 2008. Astra, the largest insurer at the end of last year, boosted its business during the crisis, betting on auto liability insurance and on home insurance policies, so it also increased its personnel. Uniqa also hired during the crisis, with personnel reaching 1,100 employees last year, up 23% from 2008.
On the other hand, Omniasig and BCR Asigurari, controlled by Austria’s Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), cut their employee numbers by 15% and 29% respectively in three years amid turnover declines. The two companies together had 2,400 employees in December 2011. Omniasig and BCR Asigurari continued their restructuring into this year. (EUR1=RON4.4595)
(English version by Daniela Stoican)