AAS BTA Baltic Insurance Company (henceforward referred to as BTA) has endorsed gross insurance premiums in the amount of 94.4 million Euros in the first six months of 2015, which is by 2.3 million Euros or 2.5 % more than in the first six months of 2014. Due to the successful implementation of the business plans, the BTA profit has increased by 11.1 % and reached 4.7 million Euros.
Considering the amount, the highest levels of increase in the insurance premiums endorsed by BTA in the first six months of 2015 have been reached in property insurance, road vehicle insurance ( insurance), and general third-party liability insurance. In property insurance during the first six months of this year, BTA has endorsed insurance premiums in the amount of 24.2 million Euros, which is by three million Euros or 14.2 % more than in the first six months of 2014, whereas, in CASCO insurance, BTA has endorsed insurance premiums in the amount of 15 million Euros, which is by 1.2 million Euros or 8.7 % more than in the first six months of 2014. In the general third-party liability insurance, BTA has endorsed premiums in the total amount of 4.2 million Euros, which is by 847.6 thousand Euros or 25.4 % more than in the same period last year.
Jānis Lucaus, Board Chairman of AAS BTA Baltic Insurance Company: “To strengthen BTA compliance with the Solvency II requirements, which are to take effect on 1 January 2016, we have restructured the corporate insurance portfolio considerably during the first half of the year. Both due to the restructuring of the portfolio and the tough competition on the market, the rate of increase in the amount of insurance premiums endorsed by BTA during in the first half of this year slowed down slightly. However, despite this, we have endorsed by 2.3 million Euros more in insurance premiums than in the same period last year. It should be noted that we have continued pursuing safe and conservative strategies, without changing our investment strategy, in the investments segment. Namely, despite the very low levels of profitability in the segment of safe investments (government securities and bank deposits), the entire increase of the BTA investment portfolio by 3 % has been channelled exclusively for safe investments.”
Considering the gross endorsed insurance premiums, the largest part of the BTA portfolio in 2015 was mandatory third-party liability insurance (35.6 million Euros or 38 % of the gross endorsed insurance premium amount), property insurance (24.2 million Euros or 26 %), and CASCO insurance (15 million Euros or 16 %).
Due to price and cost increases in various associate service sectors (in medical institutions and car service centres), the amount of insurance indemnities paid out during the first six months this year has increased faster than the amount of the endorsed insurance premiums. The gross amount paid out in insurance indemnities by BTA is 48.5 million Euros, which is by 5.7 million Euros or 13.3 % more than in the first six months of 2014.
Compared against the first six months last year, the highest increase in the gross insurance indemnity payouts in the first half of 2015 was in property insurance where the amount of the paid insurance indemnities was 6.7 million Euros, which is by 41 % than in the year before. The cost increase in property insurance is associated with several considerable insured events where fire caused significant damage to facilities owned by BTA clients outside Latvia.
The amounts of indemnities paid out by BTA in third-party liability insurance have also increased considerably (by 10.8 %) in the first half this year. The gross amount paid out in indemnities by BTA in this type of insurance was 24.5 million Euros, which is by 2.4 million Euros more than in the first six months of 2014. The increase in the amount of insurance indemnities was largely caused by an increase in the number of serious road traffic accidents involving injuries requiring long-term treatment and rehabilitation as well as by increases in the prices of medical and car care centre services.
About the Company
The insurance company BTA was founded in 1993, under its initial name JSC Baltijas Transporta apdrošināšana (Baltic Transport Insurance). During its initial operation in the sector of sea and air freight insurance, BTA soon proved itself as a universal insurance company which is able to offer the widest range of insurance services to its clients. Since year 2002, which is when BTA acquired the Lithuanian insurance company BTA Draudimas, BTA has been conducted targeted business also in other countries, such as Estonia, Germany, Spain, Poland, France, Italy, the United Kingdom. Initially, its fundamental principle of operation was Freedom of Services (FOS), whereas affiliates were established later on.
To enjoy the benefits offered by the European Union and facilitate business abroad, BTA became a European business in February 2011 and acquired its new name BTA Insurance Company SE.
BTA is the only Latvian insurance company which exports financial services. The international growth of BTA is proven by the TOP 500 of Central European Companies issued by the international auditor company Deloitte for year 2013, where BTA ranks 50th among the largest insurance companies in Central Europe.
To successfully continue pursuing the corporate business expansion strategy through more dynamic development of its business in Europe and structuring its administrative resources and processes in line with the strategic lines of its business operations, the insurance company BTA Insurance Company SE launched a reorganisation plan in October 2014 to divide the company according to the geographical distribution of its business operations: Baltics and rest of Europe. As part of the reorganisation, the BTA subsidiary, Joint-stock Insurance Company BTA Baltic Insurance Company was founded on 27 October 2014. Having completed the reorganisation and retained the current service portfolio, insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are, starting from 1 July 2015, being provided by AAS BTA Baltic Insurance Company, whereas BTA Insurance Company SE continues market expansion in other European states.
BTA is also the largest payer of insurance indemnities in Latvia. Last year, the average amount paid by BTA in insurance indemnities was 355 thousand Euros per business day, or approximately 44 thousand Euros per every hour of operation.
Additional information:
Agnese Grīnberga
Head of Public Relations
AAS BTA Baltic Insurance Company
e-mail: agnese.grinberga@bta.lv
Phone: 67025661, cellular: 27828796
