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TOP 100
insurers
No quick recovery for SEE
insurers in 2011
by Emiliya Atanasova
When insurance companies in
Southeast Europe toasted the arrival
of 2011, the general mood was
one of caution for the immediate
future and belief in the industry’s
longer-term prospects.
SEE insurers had just left behind
a rather diffi cult 2010 – a year
through which the effects of the fi -
nancial crisis and the ensuing recession
were still keenly felt.
Unfortunately, a rebound failed to materialise
in 2011 as the European economy continued
to struggle under the added weight of a
spreading sovereign debt crisis. That is not to
say all SEE insurers had a disappointing 2011.
On the contrary, many of the top 100 sector
players in the region increased signifi cantly
their profi ts or reversed prior-year losses. Still,
2011 as a whole proved yet another year of
sliding gross written premiums (GWP) and
while the decline was much less pronounced
compared to the drop between 2009 and
2010, it showed that the recovery would be
anything but swift and easy.
The region’s top 100 insurers exited 2011
with a combined 6.053 billion euro in GWP
compared to 6.197 billion in 2010. The best
performer in terms of GWP growth was
Romania’s City Insurance SA, whose GWP
shot up by 216.64% to 46.3 million euro. This
propelled the company to number 39 in the
rankings from 78 the year before. Romania
is also home to the company that did worst
on that count. Chartis Romania SA suff ered a
33.92% drop in GWP, slipping from number 71
in the top 100 chart to number 90. Overall, 44
companies ended 2011 with smaller fi gures
under their GWP account headings.
A look at the top fi ve SEE insurers of 2011 is
likely to trigger a sense of deja-vu. All fi ve
companies held on to the positions secured
in 2010 and all but one achieved substantial
profi t growth. Hats off to Slovenia’s Zavarovalnica
Triglav, which may be operating in the
region’s smallest country but runs way ahead
of the pack in terms of GWP and profi t. The
company is the undisputed leader in the
rankings for the third year in a row despite
the 3.42% slide in GWP to 696.7 million euro.
This is still head and shoulders above the
result achieved by number two, Croatia Osiguranje,
which wrapped up 2011 with GWP
of 370.3 million euro, down 3.68%. Zavarovalnica
Triglav’s net profi t jumped to 43.8 million
euro from 32.1 million euro in 2010, while
Croatia Osiguranje’s nearly doubled, surging
from 5.9 million euro to 10.4 million euro.
Third-ranked Adriatic Slovenica of Slovenia
managed a 1.62% increase in GWP to 265.6
million euro and lifted its net profi t to 17.7
million euro from 10.5 million euro. Zavarovalnica
Maribor, also of Slovenia, retained its
fourth place with 2011 GWP of 263.2 million
euro, a rise of 1.40%. The company’s net profi t
remained fl at at 10.6 million euro. Astra SA of
Romania held on to its fi fth position although
its GWP fell by 6.89% to 233.5 million euro. In
terms of net profi t, however, Astra had an excellent
year as the fi gure ballooned from 5.9
million euro in 2010 to 18.8 million.
Positions six to nine were occupied by familiar
names albeit in a slightly diff erent arrangement.
Romanian Allianz - Tiriac Asigurari SA
landed at number six after fi nishing seventh
in 2010. Its domestic rivals Omniasig Vienna
Insurance Group SA (which merged into BCR
Asigurari Vienna Insurance Group SA in 2012)
and Groupama Asigurari SA also climbed one
rung of the ladder to fi nish at numbers seven
and eight respectively. Rounding off the top
10 was Serbia’s Dunav Osiguranje AD, which
moved up from number ten to number nine.
Asigurarea Romaneasca - Asirom Vienna Insurance
Group SA was the new kid on the
top 10 block, climbing from number 14 a year
earlier.
The top 100 club welcomed fi ve new members
in 2011, three of which are representatives of
Bulgaria. Bul Ins AD, Alico Bulgaria Life Insurance
Company EAD (Metlife) and UBB-Alico
Life Insurance Company AD (UBB Metlife)
fi nished the race in the 27th, 95th and 96th
place respectively. Slovenia’s Merkur Zavarov-
30
Methodology
TOP 100 insurers is a ranking of
the largest insurers (excluding
re-insurers) in Southeast Europe
in terms of gross written
premium from non-consolidated
income statements for 2011.
To allow comparison, all local
currencies have been converted
into euro, using the central
banks’ offi cial exchange rates
on the last working day of 2011
and 2010, respectively. Local
currency fi gures have been used
when calculating year-on-year
changes.
All data is sourced from central
banks, national commercial
registers, fi nancial supervision
commissions, insurance associations,
government and corporate
websites, and companies
themselves.
The initial pool of companies exceeds
230 insurers.
alnica landed at 37 and Velebit Osiguranje of
Croatia grabbed onto number 100.
Thanks to its new entrants, Bulgaria overtook
Romania as the country with the largest
number of representatives in the 2011 SEE TOP
100 league table of insurers. The list featured
21 Bulgarian names versus 19 in 2010 and Romania’s
contribution slipped from 22 to 20
companies. Croatia was represented by 19
companies compared to 18 previously, while
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina had 11 and
10 companies featured respectively, the same
numbers as in the 2010 rankings. The number
of Slovenian representatives dipped from ten
to nine, Macedonia held steady with fi ve entrants
and so did Montenegro and Moldova
with two each. Albania’s only representative
was Sigal UNIQA Group Austria, which
climbed to number 60 from 75 in 2010.