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| Compensa VIG President Franz Fuchs |
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In the wake of last year's global financial meltdown, Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) has further strengthened its leading position in Central and Eastern Europe as it acquired last year a string of related companies in the region, including Poland.
After taking over the operations of several Polish insurers, including Compensa, Benefia, Royal Polska, Inerrisk, Finlife and PZM, VIG has grown to become the fourth-largest insurance group in the country.
"We have a 14 percent market share in Central and Eastern Europe, and have grown from a second-league player to fourth place in Poland in only two years," boasts Compensa VIG PresidentFranz Fuchs.
Today, VIG's presence in Poland comprises eight companies, including the nonlife and life divisions of Compensa and Benefia, the nonlife activities of InterRisk and TU PZM, and the life insurance business of Royal Polska and FinLife.
"We acquire reasonable insurance companies for reasonable prices. It doesn't matter if the company is big or small, but rather that it has specific attributes that will make it a good fit in the group," stresses Fuchs, who has led the company for the past five years.
"2008 was a fantastic year overall. The non-life insurance market was growing at 10 percent to 11 percent and we are growing at about 30 percent, which is outstanding for Poland and other countries," he adds.
As the global financial sector struggles to rebuild itself, Fuchs remains confident about the strength of the Polish insurance market and is optimistic about its growth prospects.
"People are more understanding of the risks they face and therefore their insurance needs are steadily growing. This makes me optimistic about future sales of insurance products, including those that, until now, were not popular in Poland like legal or health insurance," he says.
Compensa offers several advantages to its policyholders.
"Compensa can react faster and is more flexible than the larger companies like for example PZU. Our network is very wide and we focus on a multichannel strategy. Our network is one of the largest in Poland. We have 70 branch offices countrywide. As a group, we cooperate with 5,500 to 6,000 agents in non-life alone. This is very high compared to our market share," he says.
Also, international corporate clients play a bigger part in VIG Poland's focus.
"Being part of a big international group operating in CEE, we are also ready to service big corporate clients. We cooperate on the group level with our sister companies in other CEE countries, so we are ready to provide big companies with comprehensive service in the whole region," he adds.
www.compensa.pl
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