ERGO in the Baltic States in 2012: more premiums, profit and benefits paid out to the customers

February 14, 2013

According to Dr. Kęstutis Bagdonavičius, Chairman of the Management Board of the ERGO Insurance Group in the Baltic States, gradual and moderate recovery of the Baltic countries economy revitalised the insurance market. “Premiums growth was achieved due to recovery of Motor business in all Baltic countries, while improved loss ratios had the main impact to the positive result. An extraordinary effect from investments influenced the amount of profit as well. All ERGO insurance companies in the Baltic States regardless of the challenging economic environment achieved excellent results, which comply with the profitable growth strategy of the ERGO Insurance Group in the Baltic States”, Dr. Bagdonavičius says.

In P&C insurance segment premiums of ERGO in the Baltic States totalled ca. EUR 109 million, what shows 8.8% growth compared to the last year. In the 1-4 quarters of 2012 by more than 20% ERGO in Lithuania experienced growth in MOD, whereas ERGO in Estonia and Latvia reported a ca. 19% boost for MTPL. Good results were also obtained in life insurance segment totalling EUR 41.5 million written premiums with a growth of 8.3%.

The main part of profit has been achieved in ERGO P&C insurance companies – EUR 6.9 million. In life insurance segment the profit amounted to EUR 1.9 million. In 2012 ERGO enhanced its financial strength and stability even more: the investment portfolio of ERGO in the Baltic States grew to EUR 329 million (EUR 312 million in 2011) as well as the equity increased till EUR 142 million (EUR 133 million in 2011).

In 2012 ERGO customers in the Baltic countries were paid EUR 65.6 million claims in P&C insurance segment as well as the amount of paid claims in life insurance segment totalled EUR 30.7 million. The indemnity paid out in Estonia was EUR 0.5 million to compensate the restoration of a house struck by fire.

Commenting the forecasts of the ERGO Insurance Group in the Baltic States Dr. Bagdonavičius emphasizes that economy of the Baltic States is recovering since the end 2010 and in comparison to other EU countries growth also in 2013 will be above average. “Different institutions assess the economic outlook of the Baltic States as good, key economic indexes indicate that insurance markets will grow in accordance the market average. However, high share of low value adding economy sectors weakens population wealth as well as influence of EU economic crisis and increasing number of insurance market competitors should not be underestimated”, Dr. Bagdonavičius says.

ERGO Insurance Group in the Baltic States

ERGO has been among leading insurance groups in the Baltic States and the only one to offer a complete range of coverage including property insurance and accident insurance along with life, pension and health insurance. Premiums of ERGO Baltic totalled EUR 150.2 million in 2012. Last year customers in the Baltic countries were paid more than EUR 96.3 million for insurance claims. ERGO Insurance Group is also present in Belarus offering services in the non-life sector. Over 550,000 customers in the Baltic States trust the services, know-how and financial stability of ERGO Group.

ERGO companies operating in the Baltic countries are part of the international ERGO Group – one of the largest insurance corporations in Europe. Worldwide, the Group is represented in over 30 countries and concentrates on Europe and Asia.

ERGO is part of Munich Re, one of the leading reinsurers and risk carriers worldwide.