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There is one reason to celebrate which we will not throw away: PRISMA has captured the position of
market leader!
But this does not mean that we can rest on our laurels. All the signs point to there being no real easing
of the situation in 2010 – the dominos are still falling on the insolvency front.
Locally anchored and
internationally connected
The crisis is just one more example which shows how important stable partnerships are. We were able
to provide a safe haven for you over the past year because our parent group stands firmly on stable
foundations.
As a joint venture of the world market-leader Euler Hermes and the Austrian financial service provider,
the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG, we rest on foundations which are strong enough to weather
the crisis. Austrian exporters have been the beneficiaries of this vibrant combination for many years
already. The Kontrollbank is the leading player on the Austrian export finance and capital markets.
PRISMA clients can access the know-how gathered over decades as well as the up-to-date information
on more than 40 million companies all over the world which Euler Hermes makes available electronically.
The Euler Hermes network works on the principle that “Credit is local”. That means that risk managers
on the ground in each location research the data – in over 50 countries. They know the local markets
and their specialities best. The data are fed into an integrated system where they are processed
and can be accessed by credit underwriters all around the world at the push of a button. In return,
PRISMA is responsible for supplying the risk information on Austrian firms to other group companies.
Here, too, we are counting on intensified contacts to the Austrian buyers we need to rate both for our
own clients and our partners in the Euler Hermes-Group.
Financial indicators of performance
Turnover
For the first time in the history of our company we have noticed two unusual phenomena this year: the
general decline in business and especially the reduced volume of export business have left their mark–
not only on our clients’ business, but as a consequence also in our own books. The reason is that the
earned premium depends on the amount of business activity. Over and above this, we were regrettably
not always able to accept in full the risks offered to us by our clients, and sometimes not even partially,
since in many cases the creditworthiness of buyers has deteriorated. This situation also impacts our
premium base, since premium only needs to be paid on insured outstandings.
Earned premiums in our direct insurance business dropped by about nine percent to 41.7 million euros.
The two principal products Prisma Global and Prisma Plus account for 36.9 million euros of this,
15 percent down year-on-year.
A necessary and logical consequence of the worldwide crisis is an overall rise in premium rates. In
the past, these had remained at an extremely low level in Austria due to the great pressure of competi-
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