Three general insurance companies reported turnovers higher than 100m euros in the first half- Allianz-Tiriac, Omniasig and BCR Asigurari, in comparison with the same period last year when only the market leader exceeded the 100m-euro mark.
As always, in the first half of the year insurers continued to battle it out for a market share, in an industry estimated to be worth 2bn euros this year.
Unlike in previous years, none of the insurance companies were badly hurt in the fight for customers. As a result, although several companies experienced losses, none encountered serious problems such as a fall in liquidity or solvency indicators.
The market leader was Allianz-Tiriac, which posted a turnover worth 173m euros in the first six months.
The insurer registered a 25% increase in gross underwritten premiums against the same period last year, and derived operating profits worth 4m euros, which remained constant with the level reached in H1, 2006.
Omniasig managed to climb by one position to second place, among the top ten general insurance companies, and posted a turnover above 106m euros. The insurance company's gross underwritten premiums increased by 66% against the first six months in 2006. Omniasig's income registered an even faster increase and doubled in the first six months to 3.9m euros, due to less claims being settled on the auto insurance segment.
BCR Asigurari registered the fastest rise in the ranking, from the sixth position, in the first half of 2006, to the third position. The turnover generated by BCR Asigurari, also sustained by BCR, its main shareholder, doubled in the first six months to around 103m euros.
Asirom followed next in the ranking and also saw its market share shrink in the first half of the year.
Last year, during the same period, Asirom ranked second on the general insurance market, but this year only managed to bolster its turnover by 7%, to around 87m euros.
Asiban, now owned by four banks - BCR, BRD-SocGen, Banca Transilvania and CEC, also moved down in the ranking. The insurer did not publish its first-half results, but according to ZF estimates, based on the gross underwritten premiums posted in the first five months of the year, calculations indicate 85m euros.
Besides BCR Asigurari another top ten insurance company to double its turnover in the first half was Unita, which registered gross underwritten premiums worth 71m euros in late June.
Astra-Uniqa dropped down two positions to seventh place, with gross underwritten premiums worth 56.4m euros for H1; slightly higher against the same period last year. Eighth came Generali Asigurari, down one position from H1, 2006, with gross underwritten premiums of 48m euros. BT Asigurari ranked ninth, while Ardaf held onto the final tenth position.
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