The 19th Annual General Meeting of Vienna Insurance Group decided to spin off the entire insurance division as a 100 percent subsidiary, which will be called the "VIENNA INSURANCE GROUP AG Wiener Versicherung Gruppe ", according to company's press release. As the largest individual company of the Group and leading insurance company in Austria, the Wiener Stadtische Versicherung AG VIENNA Insurance Group will conduct its operational insurance business. All preparations for the implementation of the resolutions have already been made by the management, guaranteeing a smooth transition.

At the CEA's General Assembly held in London on 10 June, Sergio BALBINOT, Managing Director of GENERALI, was elected vice-president of the federation. He will serve a term of one year, before taking over from Tommy PERSSON as CEA president in June 2011 for a mandate of three years.
Welcoming the appointment, PERSSON said: "I am delighted with the election of Sergio BALBINOT as CEA vice-president. Bringing a wealth of experience as an active top level executive in GENERALI, he will strengthen the CEA, both now and in the future."

"It is worth noting that the Turkish market experienced an increase in the volume of gross written premiums, although it sustained losses last year. The interest of foreign investors in the Turkish insurance segment is reconfirmed as well", Sezi MERIC from MILLI Re stressed.

In the first quarter of 2010, VIENNA Insurance Group (VIG) reported total written premiums (consolidated) of EUR 2.53 billion; an increase by 7.9 % compared to the same period of the previous year, according to VIG's press release. At the same time, the Group achieved an increase of 13.8 percent in net earned premiums.

Massive floods in southern Poland and financial turmoil on capital markets caused a 30% profit drop for Poland's biggest insurer PZU in first quarter, in comparison to the same period of the 2009.

Zavarovalnica TRIGLAV, Slovenian market leader, recorded a EUR 6.2 million euro loss for 2009, and the parent company has concluded the past financial year with a loss of EUR 1.8 million. Management explained that the bad result primarily credited last year's summer storms and the financial crisis. Remember, the TRIGLAV group-level 2008th was made EUR 1.5 million euro profit.

Pozavarovalnica SAVA and SAVA Re, recorded last year a ERU 12.6 million loss and the loss of SAVA Re Group was 28.2 million. In this period the SAVA Re has collected EUR 147 million in written premiums, or 9 percent from the previous year.

COMARCH has completed a major phase in the implementation of a sales platform for UNIQA Insurance Group. The COMARCH platform (CAFE for Insurance) is a modern front-office solution, which ensures maximum simplicity and automation of the insurance agent's daily activities. The solution provides UNIQA with more an effective and optimal use of new distribution channels.

PZU SA, Poland's biggest insurer, posted a record profit of USD 1.3 billion last year, improving earnings before its initial public offering planned in the second quarter of this year, according to BLOOMBERG.

Insurance Company ERGO (MUNICH Re's primary insurance unit) intends to triple the share of premium growth from Eastern Europe, where policy sales are coming off a low base, according to WSJ.

ALLIANZ in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) reported total gross written premiums of EUR 3.6 billion in 2009. Comparing to EUR 4.2 billion in 2008 and adjusted for the devaluation of Central and Eastern European currencies, this is a decrease by 2 percent. Operating profit for 2009 decreased by 12%, to EUR 306 million versus EUR 348 million in 2008.

According to the preliminary data by the Slovenian Insurance Association, Slovenian insurance companies saw premiums on the domestic market rise 2.8 percent and reach EUR 2.1 million last year. The biggest share was controlled by Zavarovalnica TRIGLAV (35.8 percent), which reported EUR 743.1 million in premiums.

Based on preliminary data, VIENNA Insurance Group reported a total of written premiums, on an unconsolidated basis, of EUR 8.22 billion. This corresponds to an increase of 1.2 percent. In the non-life insurance segment, Group premiums of EUR 4.75 billion were achieved (minus 0.7 percent). With premiums amounting to EUR 3.48 billion, the Group records a plus of 3.9 percent in the life insurance segment.

As of January 1, 2010, Manuel BAUER will be CEO of the new growth region, 'Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa' (CEEMA). He succeeds Klaus JUNKER, former CEO of the New Europe region, who is retiring at the end of 2009. The previously separate regions of New Europe and Middle East and North Africa will be combined at the beginning of 2010, according to ALLIANZ statement.

German insurer ERGO, a unit of MUNICH Re, announced recently it has bought the life insurance operations of Norwegian insurer VITAL Forsikring in Latvia and Lithuania.

The recession has created opportunities in the life and pensions segment in the CEE countries, as clients are now more interested in security of their savings, stated Cyrille De MONTGOLFIER, CEO AXA CEE, at the Vth International Congress "World Views for Life Insurance in Eastern Europe, CIS and Asia", organized recently in Moscow by the RUSSIAN Polis Information Group. He also believes that despite the current economic downturn, long term insurance market growth of all CEE countries is expected to remain significantly higher than in Western Europe.

In the first nine months of this year, the leader of Slovenian insurance market,  Zavarovalnica TRIGLAV, posted EUR 28 million in net profit and EUR 34.9 million in pre-tax profit. It is worth noting that the company posted EUR 30 million in pre-tax profit in the respective period last year. TRIGLAV acquired EUR 583.4 million in gross premiums in the same period.

VIENNA Insurance Group registered a total of written premiums of EUR 6.11 billion in the first three quarters of 2009, a 1.5% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. At the same time, net incomes of the group decreased by 14% in the first 9 months of 2009.

AXA Group reported a profit drop of 39%, to EUR 1.3 billion, and a drop of 6% of revenues, down to EUR 48.4 billion, in the first half of 2009.
Also, a slight decrease in revenues was recorded in the life insurance sector (7%), the total value of business generated by these policies reaching EUR 30 billion. This downward trend was observed since the end of 2008, mostly caused by the negative evolution of the economic environment.

Ranked by gross written premiums, Triglav became a medium-sized Euro¬pean insurance group, underscoring its competitive position. According to data published by the supervising authorities in the countries where the TRIGLAV Group operates, the consolidated gross written premium of the group's subsidiaries rose to EUR 520 million.