“In 2013, I have a moderate optimistic view, namely a growth a little over the gross domestic product GDP, of 2%. I don’t expect dramatic changes in the development of life insurance market compared with 2012. As for BCR Asigurari de Viata, the budget is seen growing above the market level,” the company’s president Florina Vizinteanu said Monday.
Generali Romania’s life insurance director Ovidiu Racoveanu said that 2013 will be a very difficult year for this market segment, with underwritten insurance premiums seen flat.
“Generali budgeted a very high growth in 2013, fueled by the sales input. At the market level, the future and the evolution of subscriptions in 2013 will mostly depend on the consultants, the quality and their performance,” said Racoveanu.
On the other hand, representatives of Asirom, one of the top five most important players in insurance field, said the company focused on the non-auto insurance segment.
“Asirom ended above market level in this segment. In fact, we managed to stabilize the portfolio and registered new clients,” said Mariana Diaconescu, the company’s head.
“The growth was fueled by the launch of new products and the renewal of the existent ones. We hope the effects of enforcing the strategy are seen in 2013. We are moderately optimistic as regards the market growth, which depends on the GDP growth and the living standard, as well as by the banking sector’s evolution,” Diaconescu added.
Romania’s general and life insurance market climbed 1.43% in the first nine months of 2012 to 6.17 billion (EUR1.41 billion), supported by a 1.74% increase on the general insurance segment to RON4.87 billion, according to insurance market regulator CSA. Life insurance underwritten premiums amounted to RON1.3 billion in the first nine months of 2012, up 0.3% on the year.