Marsh Romania, the domestic unit of the world's leading insurance broker, plans to develop in full gear on a new market segment, that of individual clients, after having handled insurance contracts only for companies since it was set up.
By yearend, the company wants to boost revenues from this activity to 10% of turnover. Last year's turnover stood at around 4 million euros (13.8m RON), with Marsh ranking second on the market.
"We are trying to access the retail market, not directly, but through partnerships with our corporate clients, which, in their turn have many individual clients. This is a market with a high growth potential," states Cristian Fugaciu, general manager with Marsh Romania.
The broker is already placing insurance policies through two car dealers and is now in talks to seal another such partnership. Another distribution channel for insurance policies for individuals is made of companies, for whose employees Marsh creates various insurance packages.
By the end of this year, Marsh is set to distribute insurance policies in hypermarkets as well and is now in talks with several networks.
In order to use this sales channel, Marsh is now studying the group's products on foreign markets. "Through these policies, our partners will be able to offer a wider range of products and will thus secure their customers' loyalty. For us, the advantage is that we have access to a high number of individual clients", says Cristian Fugaciu.
This year, the company also plans to expand on the segment of products of the employee benefits type, such as life, health insurance or private pensions. Marsh is now getting ready to send the licensing file to the Private Pensions Supervision Commission and will broker pensions in one month at the latest.
Marsh wants revenues from employee benefits contracts to reach 10% of turnover this year, whereas their weight revolved around 2% last year.
At present, the biggest weight in Marsh' portfolio is held by car insurance (40%), followed by goods policies (25%). Around 15% of policies placed by the broker account for professional liability insurance, for managers, producers or the environment.
"Another development line for this year is risk consulting for companies. Of all our businesses, this segment boasts the biggest growth potential. At present, the market is close to zero, but there's no question of whether companies need this or not as there are risks everywhere," explains Fugaciu.
At present, Marsh has 50 employees and three offices across the country.
The value of contracts handled by the company rose by some 50% in the first half of this year, while fee revenues advanced by 25%.
"The corporate insurance market is not where we would like it to be; we have not yet reached that point when companies come to us to buy policies. We are now educating the market," Marsh's top man says.
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