The biggest insurance company on the Romanian market, Allianz-Tiriac, logged 88 million euro revenues in the first half of this year, 30% higher than in the same period last year. If the growth pace holds throughout the second half, the company will end 2004 with 175 million euro revenues.
General insurance, the mainstay of its business, increased 24%, totalling gross subscribed premiums of 83 million euros.
"Our sales on the life insurance segment were as high in the first half as for the whole of last year," said chief executive Cristian Constantinescu.
The company has built most of its portfolio around auto insurance. In its quest to overtake the market share of Asirom, the market leader until two years ago, Allianz-Tiriac has become the main supplier of comprehensive auto insurance in Romania, with a strong involvement in the sale of auto liability policies, as well.
Premiums subscribed on the auto liability insurance segment rose 36% in the first six months of 2004 to 12.6 million euros. The company spent more than 250,000 euros in promoting its auto liability insurance policies this year, making up half of the budget set aside for promotion and advertising, which stands at more than 500,000 euros.
This high growth was also witnessed in the home insurance policies sold to individuals, but these insurance products still account for a very small part of the company's portfolio. They totalled 2.8 million euros in gross premiums subscribed, that is 3.3% of the general insurance. The huge sales of comprehensive auto insurance policies can be explained by the partnerships with automotive leasing companies such as VB Leasing, Porsche Leasing or RCI Leasing (part of Renault Finance). This growth in policy sales therefore ensues the progress of the import of new cars. The imports of new cars increased 38% in the first half, to 31,400 units. About 60% of the cars imported are bought through leasing, meaning that about 100,000 units have been sold through the leasing system in Romania over the last three years.
Allianz-Tiriac's most important competitors on this segment in 2003 were, as shown in the respective Insurance Supervision Commission report, Asirom (47 million euros in premiums subscribed for land vehicle insurance contracts), Omniasig (18 million euros) and Unita (12 million euros). Allianz-Tiriac's premiums on the segment stood at 78 million euros last year, which accounts for 37% of the market.
The company, established by businessman Ion Tiriac in 1994, has been controlled by Germany's leading insurer, Allianz, since 2000.
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