Gross profit in 2009 amounted to 58.1 million kuna

The operations of Allianz Zagreb in 2009 were marked by strong profit growth, with the Company achieving a gross profit of 58.1 million kuna, alongside a total premium income of 986.2 million kuna at the end of 2009.

This is the highest profit achieved by Allianz since the start of operations in Croatia, primarily resulting from cost reductions, maintaining a quality portfolio, and very good investment results, stated Allianz Zagreb in a press release.

– Given the difficult market conditions in the past year and additional burdens on insurers, we achieved good results and met our goal of operating profitably and securely, without major upheavals. Changes in processes and restructuring within the company that we undertook throughout the year resulted in significant cost reductions while maintaining a stable capital base. We can already say that we have well prepared for this business year, as preliminary results from the first quarter show growth in premiums for both life and non-life insurance compared to the same period last year. We are also satisfied with the performance of our investment funds, especially the Allianz Cash fund, which ended the year with a yield above the market average of 7.66% and was among the top five money funds in terms of yield in the first seven months of operation, commented Boris Galić, CEO of Allianz.

In the ‘non-life’ segment, a premium of 649.6 million kuna was achieved, which is a decrease of 6.8 percent compared to the results in 2008. Allianz recorded better results than the market in liability insurance, where a premium growth of 8% was noted compared to a market decline of 3%. Given the high share of motor vehicles in the total premium of non-life insurance and the ongoing trend of declining sales of new cars, a lower premium for liability and casco insurance was expected. Thus, on an annual basis, the decline in premium income from automobile liability insurance amounted to 5.3%. In casco insurance, Allianz recorded a decline of 12.8%, which is in line with the entire market and results recorded at the end of the third quarter of 2009. The combined ratio, the ratio of total expenses to earned premiums for non-life insurance, was 99.28%. Compared to the third quarter when the growth of traditional life insurance was 4.7%, in the last quarter Allianz increased its premium result, resulting in an overall annual growth of 7.1% compared to a market growth of 0.4%. The trend of declining sales of life insurance policies linked to loans continued, which predictably resulted in a decrease in total gross premium. Thus, the premium income in the life insurance segment in 2009 amounted to 336.5 million kuna.