Romanian insurer ING Asigurari de Viata hikes business by 24% y/y in 2008, to lei 620.6m

Life insurer ING Asigurari de Viata, part of the largest Dutch insurer ING, posted gross premiums written (GPW) of 620.6 million lei last year, up 24 percent versus 2007, exceeding the initial estimates, the company announced today.

The company expected GPW of 610.8 million lei last year, after it recorded business of 501.1 million lei in 2007.

The gross profit of ING Asigurari de Viata stood at 38.2 million lei in 2008, 15 percent higher compared to 2007 when it stood at 33.2 million lei. Assets inched 2 percent to 1.5 billion lei at the end of last year.

ING controlled 34.5 percent of the local life insurance market last year and 38.5 percent of the mandatory pension market and the optional one (Pillar II and Pillar III) in terms of assets.

The insurer sold 84,762 policies last year, of which 65 percent were traditional products. The value of benefits paid to the company amounted to 199 million lei, a 28 percent rise versus 2007.

ING Asigurari de Viata manages two funds on the optional private pension market, ING Clasic and ING Optim, which administered assets of 31.8 million lei at the end of last year.

ING Fond de Pensii counted 1.5 million clients on Pillar II and had a 38.7 percent market share in terms of assets and 33 percent in terms of participants. The company managed assets of 357.3 million lei at the end of 2008.

Romania's pension system was reformed in May 2007. Apart from the traditional state-collected pensions or Pillar I and the private pensions, Pillar III, a new type was created - the private mandatory pensions, or Pillar II.

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