In January-June 2024, Vienna Insurance Group (Austria) collected gross written premiums (GWP) of EUR 7.887 billion, which is 7.9% more than in the previous year.
According to VIG, premiums increased in all segments and all lines of business. Underwriting income increased to EUR 5.9 billion (+10.0%), and profit before tax rose to EUR 481.0 million (+3.9%).
Special Markets (Germany, Georgia, Liechtenstein and Turkey) developed particularly well, with premium growth of 32.0%, Extended CEE (Albania including Kosovo, the Baltic States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Hungary) with premium growth of 11.5% and Austria with premium growth of 6.5%.
Technical income from insurance contracts (income from insurance services) increased to EUR 5.919 billion (+10.0%). The increase was primarily driven by growth in property and casualty insurance. All segments recorded growth, with significant growth in Special Markets (+21.5%), Extended CEE (+14.5%), Poland (+14.0%) and Austria (+6.5%). The Special Markets segment was driven by growth in Turkey, and the Extended CEE segment by growth in Romania, Slovakia, the Baltic States, Bulgaria and Hungary.
Profit before tax increased to EUR 481.0 million in the first half of 2024. Profit growth was 3.9%, mainly driven by Austria, Poland and the expanded CEE region.
The annualized operating return on equity improved to 16.2% (15.1% at the end of 2023), and the net combined ratio improved to 93.3% in the first six months of 2024 (first half of 2023: 94.0%), primarily due to the positive development of the loss ratio.
According to the report, VIG’s solvency ratio at the end of the first half of 2024 remains at a very high level of 265% (including transitional measures) and emphasizes the group’s extremely high capital strength.
