In Bulgaria, the insurer's combined net ratio, a measure of profitability expressed by the ratio of total costs divided by total revenue, stood at 79.7% as at end-September against 90.7% a year earlier, VIG said in an interim financial report.
"Of course, like any company, we are feeling the effects of the current situation, with inflation being the main factor here. The situation is leading to increased claims expenses among other things, thereby weighing on the development of the combined ratio. Nevertheless, we are confident that our strategy of broad diversification will enable us to effectively manage the inflation risk overall," VIG CEO Elisabeth Stadler said.
VIG's gross written premiums (GWP) in Bulgaria rose 14.3% on the year to 189.5 million euro in the January-September period, still primarily driven by strong performance in health insurance, where they rose by an annual 33.4% to 17.1 million euro.
Regular and single life insurance premiums also recorded increases in the review period, up by 29.1% and 13.9% to 30.4 million euro and 9.5 million euro, respectively. The gross written premiums of VIG's biggest segment in Bulgaria - Casco insurance, added 18.4% year-on-year to 60.2 million euro.
The only decline posted by the Austrian insurer's Bulgarian operations was in the motor third-party liability (MTPL) segment, where GWP went down 6.9% on the year to 26.5 million euro in the first nine months of 2022.
VIG's total net earned premiums in its extended CEE segment, which includes Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia as well as Ukraine, climbed by over a quarter in annual terms to 2.03 billion euro as of end-September, the data showed. Net profit across the whole segment jumped 30.9% to 110 million euro, as combined net ratio grew in Romania as well. The group consolidated for the first time in the segment premium income from Dutch insurer Aegon's business in Hungary, which was acquired in March.
