Remaining CEE

The Remaining CEE segment includes the countries of Albania incl. Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine. The Remaining CEE markets generated 4.3% of Group premiums in 2020. The companies in Montenegro and Belarus were not included in the scope of consolidation.

Albania including Kosovo

After almost six years of growth, premiums fell 6.3% in Albania in local currency terms in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020. The Albanian insurance market continues to be dominated by the non-life sector, which represents 93.2% of the market. Premiums declined 6.1% in this sector in the first nine months of 2020. While motor own damage insurance remained stable with a small increase of 0.5%, the motor third party liability line of business fell 6.9%. The non-motor lines of business were also down, recording a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%. The life insurance sector recorded an 8.5% year-on-year decrease in premium volume in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020. Premium volume in Kosovo declined 2.1% year-on-year in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020.

VIG Insurance Group operates in the Albanian insurance market with Sigma Interalbanian and Intersig. It occupies second place in the market, with a market share of 21.9%. Sigma Interalbanian is also represented by a branch in Kosovo.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Premiums decreased 1.5% in local currency terms in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first three quarters of 2020. Non-life insurance decreased 1.3% and life insurance fell 2.1%. The changes in the motor lines of business, which dominate the non-life sector, were mixed, with motor own damage declining slightly by 1.5%, while motor third party liability rose 1.2%.

VIG Insurance Group is represented by Wiener Osiguranje, which has its headquarters in Banja Luka in the Serbian Republika Srpska in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and by Vienna osiguranje, which is headquartered in Sarajevo. The market share was 8.4% based on data for the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020, which puts the VIG insurance companies in fifth place in the market.

Croatia

The Croatian insurance market recorded a small decrease of 1.4% in local currency terms in the first three quarters of 2020. Non-life premium volume rose 4.3% year-on-year. Motor third party liability insurance (+11.3%) and fire insurance (+7.3%) played a major role in this increase. Motor own damage insurance also recorded an increase of 3.2%. Health insurance premium volume rose 4.4%. Life insurance fell significantly (-15.4%) in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020, mainly due to decreases in index-linked and unit-linked products and traditional life insurance. Annuity insurance, on the other hand, recorded a gain of 17.2%.

The VIG insurance company Wiener Osiguranje operates in Croatia. Its market share of 9.8% in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020 put it in fourth place in the Croatian insurance market.

Moldova

Premium volume in the Moldovan insurance market declined 13.0% in local currency terms in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020. The non-life sector, whose 93.4% share dominates the overall portfolio, recorded a 13.9% year-on-year decrease. Life insurance recorded an increase of 1.5%. The non-motor lines of business in particular declined sharply in the first nine months of 2020 (-27.9%). Premium volume was down 7.6% for motor third party liability and 5.8% for motor own damage insurance.

The VIG insurance company Donaris operates in Moldova. Its market share is 10.7%, which puts it in fifth place in the market. It also holds fifth place in the non-life sector.

North Macedonia

Premiums in the North Macedonia insurance market declined 5.2% year-on-year in local currency terms in the first three quarters of 2020. Non-life insurance dominates the overall market with a share of 84.3%. It recorded a decrease of 5.4% in the first nine months of 2020, due to declines in both motor third party liability (-11.5%) and motor own damage insurance (-2.6%). Premium volume in the non-motor lines of business, on the other hand, rose slightly by 2.1%. Life insurance was unable to continue the growth recorded in previous years and decreased a moderate 4.3% in the first nine months of 2020.

The VIG insurance companies Makedonija Osiguruvanje, Winner Non-Life and Winner Life together hold a market share of 19.6%. That makes the VIG companies the leading insurance group in North Macedonia.

Serbia

Premium volume for the insurance companies operating in Serbia rose 2.2% based on the local currency in the first three quarters of 2020. This growth was due to the positive performance achieved in both the life sector (+2.1%) and non-life sector (+2.2%), which represents around 78% of the overall portfolio. The increase in non-life insurance was mainly due to the motor lines of business. Motor third party liability insurance grew 2.5% and motor own damage increased 6.4% in the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020. The non-motor lines of business also increased their premium volume slightly (+0.8%) compared to the same period in the previous year. Health insurance also achieved double-digit growth of 19.5%.

The VIG insurance company Wiener Städtische Osiguranje operates in Serbia. It holds fourth place in the market, with a market share of 11.8%. It is in fourth place in the non-life sector and second place in the life sector.

Ukraine

In the 1st to 3rd quarters of 2020, the Ukrainian insurance market recorded a small year-on-year decrease of 2.3% in local currency terms. The Ukrainian insurance market is strongly dominated by the non-life sector, which represents around 88% of the market. It recorded a decrease of 3.6% in the first three quarters of 2020, mainly due to the non-motor lines of business (-11.4%). Increases were recorded, on the other hand, for motor third party liability (+8.0%) and motor own damage insurance (+9.3%). Life insurance premium volume also rose 8.3% in the first nine months of 2020. At 12%, however, the share of total premiums generated by life insurance remains modest.

Following the merger of Globus and UIG, the VIG non-life insurance companies Kniazha and UIG and life insurance company Kniazha Life were operate in the Ukraine. The VIG insurance companies hold third place in the overall market, with a market share of 6.8%. They are in second place in the non-life sector and eighth place in the life sector.

Financial performance indicators in the Remaining CEE segment

Premium development

Premiums by line of business

Remaining CEE – Premiums by line of business (ring chart)

Values for 2019 in parentheses

The VIG insurance companies in the Remaining CEE segment wrote EUR 439.6 million in premiums in 2020 (2019: EUR 446.9 million). The decrease of 1.6% year-on-year was mainly due to the decline in premiums in the motor lines of business in Ukraine. Croatia and Serbia, on the other hand, recorded an increase in premiums. Net earned premiums were EUR 318.6 million in 2020 (2019: EUR 328.8 million), a decrease of 3.1% compared to the previous year.

Result before taxes

A loss of EUR 15.7 million was recorded in the Remaining CEE segment in 2020 (2019: profit before taxes of EUR 27.1 million). This was primarily the result of a goodwill impairment of EUR 45.0 million performed in Croatia in the first half of 2020.

Combined ratio

The combined ratio improved to 92.6% in Ukraine, Serbia and Kosovo in 2020, mainly due to an improved claims development (2019: 93.9%).