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Path: HomeGroup 2006Foreword by the Management Board
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Foreword by the Management Board


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In this year's Group Report, we are focussing on the theme of

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Konstantin Klien
Chairman of the
Management Board

In this year’s Group Report, we are focussing on the theme of “success through individuality”. For this, we shall let wellknown personalities from the worlds of culture, politics, business and sports have their say, depicting the developments in a new Europe, in their environment. The emphasis will be on the various points of view of different generations from Eastern and Western Europe.

As “The insurance for a new generation”, we consider it our main task to adjust to this rapid change and offer appropriate customised solutions in all areas. In order to also ensure success in the future, it is not enough to look at our core area of insurance – we must also keep an eye on all the changes, trends and developments. In our modern, networked environment, which is developing at varying speeds, understanding and the capability to anticipate changing needs is increasingly becoming a crucial precondition for economic success. We prove that UNIQA is standing up to this challenge with our innumerable product and service innovations for increasing customer benefit and customer loyalty.

As a result of our consistent strategic orientation, we were recently able to achieve a record result of € 238 million in 2006, and drive our development into one of the leading insurance groups in Central and Eastern Europe further forward during the year. We intend to allow our shareholders to participate in the Group’s successful development with another increase in the dividend by 35% to 35 cents per share. We shall submit a respective proposal to the Supervisory Board and at the annual general meeting.

Following the rapid price increase during the previous year, UNIQA shares experienced a consolidation phase in 2006. International attention to our activities increased significantly which was, not least, also confirmed by the more frequent coverage of UNIQA’s shares by investment companies. Through the further intensification of capital market communication, we intend to continue supporting the positive trend of the UNIQA shares during the coming years.

With the initiation of business activity in the Ukraine and Serbia, we undertook further steps in 2006, in the growth markets of Central and Eastern Europe. We are convinced that, with our expansion activities and the positive development of our cooperation with Raiffeisen within the context of the preferred partnership, we have established excellent preconditions for continuing our growth trend in these regions in the future.

We consider it a main prerequisite for the further development of the UNIQA Group to secure the Group’s earning power over the longterm. This will strengthen the Group’s internal financing power and retain the possibility of responding to market developments with the greatest possible flexibility.

With our new, dedicated profit improvement programme 2007– 2010, we are pursuing the goal of increasing the Group’s profit by a further € 200 million by 2010. To implement this programme we will primarily rely on securing our profitable growth path in the right product segments and on additional measures for increasing the efficiency of the organisational structures. Furthermore, we are, of course, continuing to work intensively on improving the technical results. With the implementation of this ambitious programme, we are strengthening the preconditions for increasing company value, from which the shareholders will also profit.

Our success is primarily linked to the dedication and motivation of our employees. Special thanks go to them, for their willingness to fully support the changes to secure the Group’s future, for their motivation and their identification with UNIQA’s values and goals.

Vienna, April 2007

Konstantin Klien