New-business in decline, retail threatened by price increases
"On the corporate side, many companies have gone bankrupt or have dramatically reduced activity, while others have decided to resort to self-insurance. In terms of retail, the population, that had already been affected by the decrease of the incomes, was confrunted with a 15-20% increase of the prices on the motor segment, the predominant class in their buying choices", said Antonio SOUVANNASOUCK, General Manager, ASIGEST Broker de Asigurare.
On the motor segment, the predominant class in the portfolios of the insurance companies in Romania, insurance brokers could see the changes in consumer behavior, especially of the corporate clients, respectively those who purchased or used a significant number of cars, who have reconsidered their activity and acquisitions, paying an increased attention to costs. Now, most of the times, customers extend the usage time of cars, delay the decision to buy a new car, and, for those unused, minimize insurance costs.
"At the same time, income from insurance fell also due to the fact that property insurance has undergone a drop of 15-20% of the premium rates, due to increased capacity of reinsurance markets to take over risks, but also to the attempt of the companies to stimulate the more profitable insurance segments", continued SOUVANNASOUCK.
"In 2009 we managed to maintain the level of underwritings. However, we have suffered from the reduction of values insured on property and on Motor Hull, and from the loss of some accounts, because of the customers' option to work with foreign companies that operated based on the free circulation of services. However, we managed to cover these losses by increasing the number of customers", said Laurent CHARLIER, General Manager, GRAS Savoye.
"Economic conditions directly influence the insurance market, too, and it is clearly visible that the new-businesses will be less and less. For this reason, in 2010 we will not develop our territorial network, but we are open to development by acquiring portfolios of other brokers", CHARLIER explained.
Author: Mihai CRACEA
on 05.02.2010
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