Central and Eastern Europe: enormous potential

The CEE markets harbour enormous growth potential. This is illustrated in particular by the per capita spending on insurance products, or the insurance density, as it is called. This sort of spending in CEE continues to fall significantly short of the referential figures in Western Europe: whereas an Austrian invests an average € 2,000 per annum in insurance security, an Albanian spends a meagre € 19 on coverage. Per capita spending on insurance amounts to € 41 in the Ukraine, € 300 in Hungary and € 1,000 in Slovenia. The common denominator across all CEE countries: the catch-up requirements, and thus the growth potential in the economic region served by UNIQA with a population of 300 million, are significant.

Numerous economic forecasts support the notion of substantial growth potential in the region: the IMF, for example, expects the GDP growth rates in the CEE countries to outperform those in Western Europe significantly in the period from 2010 to 2020. While the Fund envisages economic growth of 28.3 per cent in Austria for those ten years, the comparable growth rates in Poland, Romania and Albania are 52.4 per cent, 54.1 per cent and even 84.9 per cent, respectively. The economic upswing in Central and Eastern Europe is a process in the corporate sector, in society, and the economy as a whole that takes decades. UNIQA is therefore in these markets for the long haul. We have come to stay, and we have come to grow.

UNIQA is well-positioned for future growth: we are represented in 16 CEE countries by a total of 1,580 service centres. We are the market leader in Albania and Ukraine and are among the top five in five other markets, i.e. Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovakia.

In the past five years, we have grown significantly faster than the market. Our subsidiaries have increased their premium volume in CEE by 55.3 per cent, while the market has grown by 24.1 per cent. We want to maintain that pace and to continue outgrowing our competitors in the years to come.

In 2011, our CEE companies were already serving 57.7 per cent of our customers and, at more than € 1.2 billion, accounted for 20.7 per cent of Group premiums. Our goal is to double CEE premiums by 2015 to € 2.5 billion and to achieve 50 per cent of premiums and 30 to 40 per cent of our results in the CEE region by 2020. Much like in Austria, in CEE we also focus on bank distribution via the Raiffeisen bank group. The “Preferred Partnership” with Raiffeisen encompasses 14 markets: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Albania, Kosovo and Russia.