Omniasig doubled its sales of credit and guarantee insurance policies in the first half of this year, with the segment now accounting for 14% of its sales.
This type of insurance is normally taken out by banks, which, in exchange for the premium they pay to insurers, receive a guarantee in case a debtor defaults that they will be reimbursed by the insurer. The other companies active on this market, which requires a good relationship with banks, are BCR Asigurari and Asiban.
Omniasig logged 54.7 million euros (200.6 million RON) in gross premiums underwritten for the first half of the year, an increase of 54.7% in euros and 33% in RON on the corresponding period of last year.
With the 7.7 million euros in gross premiums underwritten, the credit and guarantee segment ranks third among the types of insurance sold by Omniasig, which almost equals property insurance.
Company officials were not available to comment on the increase in this business segment.
Auto liability and comprehensive auto insurance accounted for slightly less of the total at 28.8% and 28.5%, respectively, while amounting to a combined total of 114.89 million RON (31 million euros).
These results, however, do not include premiums from the second auto liability campaign, as they were recorded in July. First-half gross profits reached 1.36 million euros (5 million RON), 26% higher than last year.
The Competition Council recently authorised the takeover of Omniasig SA and its subsidiaries by Wiener Staedtische Group. This operation will enable the Austrian firm to take control of Omniasig AGI, Omniasig Asirag, Omniasig Asigurari de Viata, Autosig, Omniasig Addenda and SAI Sira. The final stage of the transaction is to be completed at the beginning of August.
At the start of May, TBIH Financial Services NV (Netherlands) announced it had reached an agreement with Wiener Staedtische over the sale of its 68.87% stake in Omniasig Asigurare-Reasigurare SA, for which the Austrian group was to pay 64 million euros.
TBIH also signed a preliminary agreement with Wiener Staedtische, which will see the latter acquire around 50% in Omniasig Asigurari de Viata.
The companies in the Omniasig Group (Omniasig Asigurare-Reasigurare, Omniasig Asigurari de Viata, Omniasig Addenda) along with Omniasig AGI and Omniasig-Asirag posted gross premiums underwritten from direct insurance of more than 100 million euros (419.3 million RON) in 2004, accounting for 12.2% of the general and life insurance market. The insurance market amounted to 857 million euros last year, 20% more than in the previous year.
Wiener Staedtische is also the majority shareholder in the insurance companies Unita and Agras, which account for 6.2% of the market.
