- UNIQA is pleased that the EU summit on 26 October 2011 finally decided upon far-reaching measures to stem the state debt crisis in Europe.

- Because all of the details regarding the write-down for Greece are not fixed, and the announcement of the referendum has again given rise to uncertainty, UNIQA has decided to write down all of its Greek bonds, not at the ‘haircut-value’ of 50% of nominal value fixed by Brussels, but rather at the fair value as at 30 September 2011 (about 35% of the nominal value).

- This adjustment in valuation for all Greek government bonds at fair value will likely cause one-time expenses of between €250 and €300 million at the Group level for the financial year 2011.

- The profit or loss on ordinary activities for 2011 – assuming there are no further negative developments on the capital markets – are expected to come in between €–250 million and €–300 million instead of our anticipated "break-even".

- For the financial year 2011, we have proposed that no dividends be paid to shareholders of the publicly listed UNIQA Versicherungen AG.

- UNIQA’s capital and solvency status continues to be solid (the surplus above the legal equity requirement amounted to about 30% on 30 September). The writedowns only amount to just over 1% of a total investment amount of approximately €24 billion.

- The implementation of the strategic reorientation of the UNIQA Group towards ambitious growth targets remains unaffected by these one-time losses.

- The positive development of the operative core business in the last nine months supports the ongoing Group restructuring. Significant growth in recurring premiums, both in Austria (+2.7%) and in the international area (+9.7%) led to a rise in recurring Group premiums of 4.9%.

UNIQA supports the steps taken by the EU summit on 26 October to stabilise the financial markets. UNIQA therefore intends to participate in the 50% haircut for Greece by relinquishing half of its receivables from Greece. By doing so, UNIQA is contributing to a reduction in the danger that the current crisis will spread to other countries in Europe.

UNIQA CEO Andreas Brandstetter: "We reported in September that, due to one-time losses incurred by strategic Group restructuring that amount to €190 million, we expect to break even in terms of Group profits for the financial year 2011. This assumed that there would be no further negative developments in the capital markets – especially no additional losses from Greek bonds. These negative developments have now occurred. However, we do not want to wait until all of the details on the Greek writedown are fixed, and we want to prepare for all foreseeable encumbrances to the UNIQA Group. This is why we are going beyond the 50% writedown by writing down all Greek government bonds in the third quarter of 2011 at the fair value, which is significantly under 50% affecting earnings. The writedown of Greek government bonds at fair value will likely lead to one-time losses in a range between €250 and €300 million for the entire financial year. As a consequence, we expect a negative annual result (profit/loss on ordinary activities) for the 2011 financial year of between €–250 and €–300 million, instead of the anticipated "break-even". All in all, this one-time loss for UNIQA is a painful step, but it is something we can cope with, given our €24 billion in investments. Thanks to our solid position, these one-time losses will affect neither our ambitious growth targets nor the strategic reorientation of the UNIQA Group. The positive development in operative core business in the first nine months, which resulted in a plus of 4.9% in preliminary recurring premiums, gives us new strength to continue following the path we have chosen".


Development of writedowns of Greek government bonds
The UNIQA Group has Greek government bonds with a nominal value of around €480 million in its portfolio.

At mid-year, when EU-level decisions regarding the participation of the private sector in a restructuring of Greece’s debt position (‘haircut’ of 21% for maturity terms until 2020), UNIQA devalued these securities by €58 million to fair value as at 30 June.

After the latest decision at the European level of 26 October, UNIQA will now write down all Greek bonds in its portfolio (regardless of remaining maturity terms) in the third quarter by an additional €242 million to the current fair value as at 30 September, which at 35% is far lower than 50%. This will make the remaining exposure in Greek government bonds as of 30 September (book value = fair value) €173 million.

In sum, these writedowns of Greek debt will result in one-time losses of between €250 and €300 million for the financial year 2011. Accordingly, the profit or loss on ordinary activities (before taxes) will sink from breaking even to a value between €–250 and €–300 million.

Significant growth in recurring premiums over the last nine months as a sign of positive development in the operative core business
In the first nine months of the current year, the UNIQA Group succeeded, despite difficult structural conditions, in increasing recurring premiums in all regions to a significant extent. In sum, recurring premiums grew by 4.9% to €4,080 million. Growth in Austria was at 2.7% and at 9.7% in the international area. The strongest growth came from the Eastern European markets, with a double-digit increase of 10.3%, followed by the Western European markets with growth of 8.7%.

Property and accident insurance was again the growth driver, enabling us to increase Group premiums by 5.7% to €2,120 million. Growth is therefore significantly over the values for the comparable period in the previous year (+5.4%). In Austria, premium volume increased in this segment by 3.0% and by 8.7% in the international area. This brought the degree of internationalisation for property and casualty insurance up to 47.5%.

In the life insurance line, recurring premiums in the Group increased by 4.9% to €1,204 million. Growth in Austria was at 2.1% and at 18.2% in the international area. Double-digit growth rates were achieved in both Eastern Europe (+21.1%) and Western Europe (+12.8%). Single premiums, however, sank significantly (–38.3% at the Group level).

In the health insurance line, premium volume for the last nine months was 3.0% above the value for the same period last year, at €756 million. In Austria, where UNIQA is the clear market leader, we generated a 2.9% rise in premiums, with an increase of 3.7% in the international area.

Group results (profit or loss on ordinary activities) for the first nine months will therefore likely be €–185 million after the writedown of Greek bonds.

UNIQA will publish a detailed report on the first to third quarters of 2011 on 24 November 2011.

Reservations concerning statements about the future
This message contains statements that refer to future developments in the UNIQA Group Austria. These statements are appraisals that are made based on all information available to us at the current point in time. If the assumptions on which they are based do not occur, the actual events may vary from the results currently expected. For this reason, we cannot accept liability for these statements.