With a declining premium level and a strong increase in benefits paid in property and casualty insurance – especially in motor vehicle insurance -, the depreciation in the fixed interest securities sector conditioned by the strongly increased interest levels and the extraordinary depreciation in the real estate sector caused by the market development, as well as special charges for the brand implementation are responsible for the 25% decline compared to last years results.

UNIQA Group Austria’s domestic insurance companies     

Premium: Total +4.7%, Life assurance +11.7%,
Property and casualty insurance –0.2%, Health insurance +0.7%:

UNIQA Group Austria’s domestic insurance companies – the stock exchange listed UNIQA Versicherungen AG, the UNIQA Personenversicherung, the UNIQA Sachversicherung, the Raiffeisen-Versicherung, the Salzburger Landes-Versicherung as well as the Collegialität Versicherung – attained earned premiums of ATS 29.0 billion (EUR 2.11 billion) in 1999 from direct business based on the preliminary results. Thereby the Group recorded a premium growth of 4.7% compared to the previous year.

The portfolio with 4,828,196 policies as at 31.12.1999 remained constant in an environment marked by increased competition.

With a premium increase of about 11.7% to more than ATS 12.1 billion (EUR 878.24 million), life assurance was the growth carrier in the past year. The premiums from single-premium business included therein increased to ATS 1,932.3 million (EUR 140.43 million / +29.9%), recurring premium life assurance increased by 8.8%. The UNIQA Group Austria domestic companies administered 1,393,225 life assurance policies by the end of the year.

With direct premiums of ATS 9.1 billion (EUR 662.14 million), property and casualty insurance showed a premium volume minimally reduced by ATS 14.0 million (EUR 1.02 million). The further continued premium reduction in the motor vehicle insurance – which is in line with the market development – could be largely offset by the increase in the other property lines. The premium reduction in the motor vehicle insurance was 3.8%. The total portfolio for property and casualty insurance reached 2,855,825 policies by the end of the year.

The premiums earned from direct business in health insurance amounted to ATS 7.8 million (EUR 565.82 million). With a slight premium increase of around 0.7%, UNIQA maintained its market leadership in this segment. At year end, the UNIQA Group Austria administered 579,116 health insurance policies.

Paid benefits increased by 5.4%                
The mentioned domestic companies of the UNIQA Group Austria paid benefits of ATS 20.3 billion (EUR 1.48 billion) to, respectively for their customers in the past year. This is equivalent to an increase of 5.4%. Of the paid benefits, life assurance accounted for  ATS 8.4 billion (EUR 607.59 million / +7,6%), health insurance for ATS 6.1 billion (EUR 444.82 million / -0,3%) and the property and casualty insurance for ATS 5.9 billion (EUR 425.40 million / +8,6%).

Slight drop in employee numbers, costs increased by 1.2%    
The number of employees of the UNIQA Group Austria in Austria dropped to 5,291 at year end (31.12. 1998: 5,365).

The costs in 1999 – including commissions, expenses for the processing of claims and investment of assets - for the domestic companies of the UNIQA Group Austria were only ATS 79.0 million (EUR 5.74 million) above the previous year’s values. This corresponds to an increase of 1.2%.

Investment at ATS 136.2 billion (EUR 9.9 billion), investments income +3,8% 
The domestic insurers of the UNIQA Group Austria administered investments of ATS 136.2 billion (EUR 9.9 billion) as at 31.12.1999, 5.7% more than in the previous year. The investment income earned in the past year from investments are, with ATS 8.0 billion (EUR 581.6 million) 3.8% above the values of the previous year. The drop of the total investment income by 0.2% to ATS 7.9 billion (EUR 573.2 million) can primarily be attributed to the extraordinary depreciation in securities and real property. The hidden real estate reserves, which had to be reported for the first time in 1999, amounted to about ATS 5 billion (EUR 363.4 million) for the domestic Group companies.

UNIQA Group Austria’s foreign insurers          
1999 was an extremely satisfactory year for almost all the companies abroad, with above average growth. The necessary internal platform to run the Group’s operations abroad in a co-ordinated and efficient way was created by establishing the UNIQA International Versicherungsholding. In accordance with the Group strategy for the systematic expansion of activities in Central and Eastern Europe, preparations were made for entering the market in Poland and Slovenia and agreement was reached to take over the majority interest of the Italian Carnica insurer.

The Czech insurer CRP recorded the highest premium increase. The market growth was once again significantly exceeded with an increase of 40.1% to CZK 902.0 (ATS 343.7 million / EUR 25.0 million). The liberalisation of the motor vehicle insurance, effective from 1.1. 2000 presents new growth potential for CRP. Due to the high growth rate (+208.9%) of the life assurance business, the company already holds the eighth place on the Czech insurance market.

The Slovak insurer, Otcina, attained premiums of SKK 782.6 million (ATS 253.6 million / EUR 18.4 million) in 1999.

The Austria Assicurazioni in Italy was able to increase their premiums by 8.4% to ITL 45.2 billion (ATS 321.2 million/EUR 23.3 million). The premiums earned at the Austria Assurances in Geneva were increased by 15.4% to CHF 45.8 million (ATS 392.5 million / EUR 28.5 million). The Austrija Osiguranje was granted a licence to conduct insurance business in the Croatian market in July 1999. Business commenced in September 1999.