Astra Asigurari reported a 23% rise in underwritten premiumslast year and expects a similar increase this year, which could seeits business hit the one billion-RON mark.
Astra, the only Romanian-controlled insurer in the top ten,whose majority shareholder is businessman Dan Adamescu, ended lastyear with 800 million RON in overall underwritten premiums (190million euros - unaudited results), 23% more than in the previousyear, amid a stagnation of the overall insurance market.
Many insurance companies recorded declines last year on segmentssuch as auto insurance and life insurance, due to companies cuttingtheir insurance budgets, to individual clients earning lowerincomes, and to the rise in unemployment. The hardest hit segmentwas life insurance, which fell by 10% in the first nine months oflast year, according to the latest available data.
"We recorded rises on the RCA segment (auto liability insurance)- due to charging competitive premiums and to launching an onlinesales website, which I think is now showing its worth. We also sawa rise on the property segment thanks to the campaign for sellinghome insurance via SMS, while premiums doubled on the lifeinsurance segment, but still account for a low share of the total,"said Radu Mustatea, Astra's general manager.
In the first half of 2009, the company launched one of thebiggest sales campaigns for home insurance, which brought it overone million clients. The insurer sold a standard product - 20-euroannual premium and a 20,000-euro insured sum, similar to themandatory insurance that could be introduced this year, but withpayment via SMS.
The rise of Astra's underwritten premiums also has to do withthe company winning auctions for aviation insurance, a segmentwhere the company is number 1. Astra's aviation insurance portfolioincludes clients such as Tarom, Romatsa, Blue Air, Henri CoandaInternational Airport, Bucuresti Baneasa Airport, and others, withpremiums ranging from several hundred thousand euros per year toseveral million euros.
According to preliminary non-audited results, Astra's net profitamounted to 6 million RON (1.4 million euros) last year, up from3.5 million RON in 2008.
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