Generali Group Poland: Q1 2010 Gross Written Premium Up By 17%
- Gross premiums written by Generali Group Poland up by 17% in Q1 2010 to PLN 419.4 million.
- Life insurance written premiums up by 22%, non-life insurance premiums up by 12%.
- Generali OFE (pension fund) reporting the highest return rate in the most recent KNF ranking.
Warsaw, 2nd of June 2010. Despite the difficult environment of the Polish insurance industry, Generali Group Poland reported good sales results in Q1 2010. The gross premiums written by Generali Group reached PLN 419.4 million*, growing by 17% year on year. The result is impressive in the light of most recent available market statistics published by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF), which indicate that the Polish insurance sector contracted by more than 13% at the end of 2009. Generali pension fund also performed well in Q1 and is now the leader of KNF's latest ranking based on three-year investment return rates. The Polish market continues to be characterized by a prolonged competitive pressure in the motor insurance segment and by difficult conditions in the life insurance segment affected by the economic slow-down in Poland and globally.
"Generali Group reported very good sales results in Q1 2010. As we continue to grow organically at a faster pace than competitors, we can show a strong increase with a 22% growth of life insurance and a 12% growth of non-life insurance," said Generali Group Poland CEO Andrzej Jarczyk.
NON-LIFE INSURANCE: Steady Progress on a Difficult Market
In Q1 2010, gross premiums written by the non-life insurer Generali T.U. S.A. reached PLN 202.4 million, up by 12.2% year on year.
In the past months, Generali has been consistently working to grow non-life insurance business lines other than motor insurance. This has allowed Generali to focus its business on those insurance products which generate higher profitability compared to motor hull and third party liability products which face problems with profitability on Polish market. As a result, retail non-motor insurance products (including household, SME, travel and accident insurance) as well as corporate insurance represented 44% of Generali T.U.'s total non-life insurance portfolio in Q1 2010, compared to 39% a year earlier.
Non-motor retail insurance was also Generali T.U.'s most dynamically growing business line in Q1, up by 45%, while corporate insurance grew by 22%.
At the same time, despite strong competitive pressure in the Polish motor insurance sector, Generali was able to grow also in this product line (by 3% to PLN 114.3 million).
LIFE INSURANCE: Core Insurance Products Driving Growth
In Q1 2010, Generali Życie T.U. S.A. continued its dynamic growth, already reported last year, despite the difficult market environment. While Poles' interest in investment and savings products has dwindled, Generali Życie T.U. wrote premiums totalling PLN 217.0 million in Q1 2010, up by 22%.
The life insurer reported particularly good sales of products with regular premiums, which are core insurance products of life insurers. This business segment of Generali Życie T.U. grew by 28% (to PLN 102.6 million) while sales of such products in the Polish life insurance sector stagnated at the end of 2009 according to the latest statistics (+0.1%). The company owes its excellent performance mainly to very dynamic new customers acquisition, as measured by APE (annualised premium equivalent)** up by almost 70%. The APE growth was driven by improved effectiveness of sales in all of the main distribution channels, from the agent network to group sales and bancassurance.
The sales of products with single premiums grew to PLN 114.3 million in Q1 2010, up by 16%, mainly thanks to increasingly popular products offering Insurance Capital Funds.
GENERALI OFE: Leader of the Latest KNF Ranking
At the end of Q1 2010, Generali OFE (pension fund) operated 709 thousand active pension accounts, up by 12.8% year on year. The growth rate was triple the market average as the number of active accounts in the sector grew by 3.5% year on year.
Generali OFE managed PLN 8.5 billion of assets at the end of March 2010, up by 51% year on year. Generali OFE's investment performance confirms that it remains one of the most effective funds in Poland. After Q1 2010, the fund took the first position in the latest ranking of pension funds based on three-year investment return rates published by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF).
As of Q1 2010, Generali Group Poland applies a new disclosures of quarterly financial publications, applicable for the Group' s subsidiaries worldwide. Generali will continue to publish quarterly financial publications and will give a complete overview of the Group's results including the main trends and corporate events. The publications of Q1 and Q3 results will present mainly gross premiums written in the key business lines and the interim and annual publications will be further completed with the consolidated net profits As a result the next publication of the net profits of Generali Group Poland companies will be presented for the H1 2010 results.
______________________
* Under Polish Accounting Standards
** Annual Premium Equivalent (APE) - the sum of the initial premium on new annual-premium policies, plus one-tenth of premiums on new single-premium policies.