"The integration of the former AXA subsidiaries - the biggest corporate acquisition in UNIQA's history and the biggest acquisition by an Austrian insurance group in CEE at around EUR 1 billion - is progressing extremely satisfactorily. Our Group-wide premium growth of 17% in the first half of 2021 is driven primarily by the markets in CEE, while the contribution to earnings is in line with our expectations overall and shows the major potential for our market position. The whole team has done excellent work over the past months, and we are looking ahead very positively to a shared UNIQA future in CEE," says Wolfgang Kindl, Management Board member for Customer & Market International at UNIQA Insurance Group AG.
Up until 2001, UNIQA operated as a relatively small player in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia, with a CEE premium share of around 2% and a CEE customer share of around 4%.
"UNIQA's involvement in CEE over the past decades has definitely been a success story! By 2010, we had gradually expanded this market presence and grown into one of the top 10 CEE insurers. With the acquisition of the ex-AXA companies in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, we are now one of the top 5 CEE insurers in 2021 with premium income of more than EUR 2.3 billion," adds Wolfgang Kindl.
In the UNIQA International segment, premiums written - including the savings portion of unit- and index-linked life insurance - increased by 57.8% to EUR 1,228.8 million in the first six months of 2021 (January to June 2020: EUR 778.9 million), chiefly due to the first-time consolidation of the AXA CEE companies. The international companies thus contributed 37.1% of total Group premiums in the first half of 2021 (January to June 2020: 27.5%).
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