VIG Romania sharply narrows 9-mo financial loss

VIG Romania recorded a pre-tax profit of 3 million euro in the period under review, compared to a 72.2 million euro loss in the year-ago period, the company said in its January-September financial statement.

Results were impacted by goodwill impairment and provisions for the investigation of the Romanian Competition Council. In April 2019, the competition authority launched an investigation into automotive insurance services of several insurers active on the local market, including VIG.

Total gross written premiums of VIG's Romanian units fell by an annual 12.9% to 342.1 million euro in January-September, due to a planned reduction of motor third party liability (MTPL) business, the company said.

VIG's premiums from MTPL insurance in Romania fell by 50.7% on the year to 64.1 million euro in the first nine months, while casco premiums rose 14.4% to 118.8 million euro and other property premiums rose by 7.3% to 77 million euro.

Premiums from regular life insurance on the Romanian market rose 6.1% year-on-year to 37.2 million euro, while single life insurance fell by 13.4% to 38.4 million euro. Health insurance premiums dropped by 17.6% to 6.6 million euro.

VIG's expenses from operations in Romania decreased by 25.9% year-on-year in the first nine months to 281.1 million euro.

The group's net combined ratio in Romania fell to 103.4% in the review period, compared to 106.4% a year earlier.

VIG swung to a pre-tax loss of 73.9 million euro from operations in Romania last year, from a 6.2 million euro profit in 2017.

In Romania, VIG is represented by three insurance companies - Omniasig Non-life, Asirom and BCR Life. In June 2018, BCR Life and AXA Life, previously owned by VIG, merged.

($= 0.9077 euro)