Burdened by an accumulation of major claims, flood events and the severe winter, the insurance benefits paid by the UNIQA Group (before reinsurance) increased in the 2010 financial year by 6.6% to reach €4,566 million (2009: € 4,284 million). In contrast, the consolidated retained insurance benefits rose somewhat more robustly by 9.9% to € 4,458 million in 2010 (2009: € 4,056 million).
While the insurance benefits retained were reduced in Austria in 2010 by 2.7% to € 2,749 million (2009: € 2,825 million), they rose in the Western European markets by 61.9% to €843 million (2009: € 521 million) primarily due to the strong growth in the Italian life insurance line. In the Central and Eastern European regions (CEE & EEM), they also increased by 21.9% to € 866 million (2009: € 710 million).
