UNIQA ‘on track’ with ambitious transformation programme

UNIQA, the leading Austrian insurance group, has reported strong growth in its international premium base in the first quarter of 2021, largely due to its recent acquisition of business across central and eastern Europe (CEE) from AXA last October for €1bn. UNIQA now has 40 companies within its group, based in 18 different countries within the CEE region and serving some 15.5 million customers. The group’s P&C business also benefited from lower motor-related claims and the generally hardening market across most lines of business, which helped deliver an excellent combined ratio of 90.9% for the first three months of this year. This contributed to an underwriting result of €62.5m for the quarter. Vienna-based UNIQA, which includes the Raiffeisen Versicherung brand, revealed that premiums written were up 13% for the group compared with the first quarter of 2020. But for international group companies it rose at a much stronger rate of 46.7% to €627m, because of the first-time consolidation of the AXA companies, which added €427.4m in premium volume. Andreas Brandstetter, CEO of UNIQA Insurance Group, said the result proved that the company was on track to achieve the ambitious goals set under its ‘UNIQA 3.0’ strategy programme. The plan demands that for the years 2021 to 2025, the insurer will deliver average annual premium growth of 3%, a considerable reduction in the cost ratio to 25%, a combined ratio that is consistently below 93% by 2025 and a return on equity that is consistently above 9%, to form the basis of “progressive” dividend growth on par with levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic. “The group’s successful business performance in the first three months of the year shows that we are on the right track with our UNIQA 3.0 strategy programme. We have clearly achieved our growth targets with an increase of 13% in premiums written, while at the same time maintaining a solid cost ratio. We are also benefiting from our underwriting discipline, from less weather damage than in recent years and, of course, from the recovery of the stock markets. We are therefore very confident that we will achieve our plans for the 2021 financial year, which include an EBT figure on par with 2018,” said Mr Brandstetter. The UNIQA 3.0 strategy is also underpinned by demand for an explicit “customer focus” and maintenance of high investments in digitalisation, IT and data. The company said the first milestones have already been set with the successful integration of the AXA companies in CEE (in Poland, the legal merger was completed after closing within just five months), a reduction in the cost ratio, a “transformation” of the corporate culture and a focus on innovations in disruptive business models. Commercial customers and brokers will be watching UNIQA’s progress with this strategy with keen interest, to see how it can manage to improve the customer experience while significantly reducing its cost ratio and investing in IT and digitalisation at the same time.

UNIQA ‘on track’ with ambitious transformation programme

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