Uniqa to establish a life insurance company

The Uniqa group will establish a company which will operate strictly on the life insurance segment, and has already filed documents for preauthorization with the Insurance Supervisory Commission (CSA), sources within the Austrian group told Business Standard.

Uniqa officials hope that the new company will become operational in the first half of 2009. There are 19 companies present on the life insurance segment, which generated gross premium income in excess of €361 million in this year's first nine months, 19.7 percent of the total market. Major players include ING, AIG Life, BCR Asigurari de Viata, Asiban, Allianz-Tiriac, Asirom, Aviva, Grawe Romania, Generali, and Omniasig Asigurari de Viata. Life insurance registered a 26.77 percent annual growth rate in this year's first three quarters, compared to a 25.3 percent rise in general insurance.

The growth pace of the insurance market, whose value was estimated at €2.5 billion in 2008, will slow to 10-15 percent from the 25 percent growth rate registered in the past few years.

Business Standard