September 20 (SeeNews) - Swiss insurer Baloise Holdings said on Thursday it has entered the Serbian life and non-life insurance market.
The Baloise Group will commence operations on the Serbian market with its own newly-established subsidiary, which will sell life and non-life insurance products in selected target segments, the company said in a statement.
In July, the Serbian central bank licensed life insurance company Zivotno Osiguranje Basler and non-life insurer Nezivotno Osiguranje Basler, majority owned by Baloise Holdings. The life insurer targets mainly doctors and dentists.
“The Serbian insurance market has impressive growth potential, especially in personal lines,” the statement said. “Steady economic growth and rising incomes are generating high demand for financial protection and retirement provision.”
In southeastern Europe, the Swiss insurer is also present in Croatia.
Serbian insurers' combined premium income more than doubled on the quarter to 24.1 billion dinars ($422.7 million/301 million euro) in the second quarter of 2007 and was 13% higher on the year. It was 38.3 billion dinars for last year.
There were 20 active insurers in the country of 9.5 million people at the end of June. The two biggest companies, state-owned insurers Dunav and DDOR, together controlled 64.6% of the market in the second quarter of this year.
(1 euro = 80.0603 Serbian dinars)