Zoran Visnjic, Chairman of Uniqa Osiguranje Managing Board - New system of automobile insurance in 2011

(Zoran Visnjic)

Uniqa Osiguranje in Serbia, a member of the namesake Austrian insurance group, registers for the fourth time in a row the largest growth in the insurance industry in the market of Serbia. Insufficiently developed life insurance sector represents for them, just like for all other insurance companies in our country, an opportunity for development and even better results in the period to come. Chairman of Uniqa Osiguranje Managing Board Zoran Visnjic speaks for eKapija about how the advantages of "life insurance" should be presented to citizens and new changes in the automobile insurance that have been introduced by the Law on Traffic Safety.

eKapija: Representatives of insurance companies in Serbia have recently filed a proposal to the Government of Serbia that may drastically increase the number of those who pay for their life insurance in the years to come. The return of a part of the paid tax to citizens is estimated to be crucial for that increase. In which way can that proposal affect the life insurance market?

- With tax incentives of this type, the state would promote a long-term saving as a source of long-term investments in the following period. That would have a positive effect for the citizens of Serbia, the state and the insurance industry as a whole. Such measures would help Serbia catch up to other countries in the region in regard to issuance of insurance premiums per capita. At the moment, over EUR 10 per capita is set aside in our country for insurance premiums, while Bulgaria sets aside EUR 18, Hungary - EUR 181, and Slovenia - EUR 306.

eKapija: You have recently announced new prices of automobile insurance. How certain and justified price increase from the New Year is?

- Taking into account several objective factors, my opinion is that the price of mandatory automobile insurance should be increased. First, the number of damages caused by traffic accidents is still growing, which also increases the costs of insurance companies. With coming into force of the new Law on Traffic Safety and introduction of the European damage report, the police investigate only in case people are injured or killed or if the material damage exceeds 200,000 dinars. The procedure that is being introduced now envisages sending of data on the number of damages to the Ministry of Internal Affairs by insurance companies, which will give a real picture of the real number of damages.

The second reason for the necessary increase in the price of mandatory insurance is the fact that the price of average damage has grown by over 23% because the prices of spare parts and repairs are brought in accord with changes in the exchange rate. For the sake of comparison, the average insurance premium in Serbia amounts to about 90 euros, the premium in Bosnia and Herzegovina is 150 euros, the premium in Montenegro is 160 euros, while 200 euros is the average insurance premium in Croatia.

And finally, the system Bonus-Malus will be again introduced from January 1, 2011. That practically means that when an insurance is renewed, an insurance company will withdraw from the unique database of vehicle owners of all insurance companies an information on whether the future insurer has had a damage on his car in the previous period. The future calculated premium-insurance price may be up to 30% higher if the insurer has had a damage, that is, it can be up to 30% lower if he has not had a damage in the previous period. Since 3% of insured people have their cars damaged in traffic ever year, that means that a small number of insured people will have their insurance premium increased, while a large number of those insured - 97%, will have their premiums-insurance prices lowered by up to 30%.

eKapija: Are there any signs that some other insurance will be made compulsory? What insurance would benefit our citizens the most?

- For the time being, there are no indications that some new type of insurance will be made compulsory. The practices of other countries, including the countries of the European Union, should be taken in consideration. In these countries, the insurance of common residential facilities is mandatory. Such facilities include corridors, joint pipelines, roofs.

Also, some countries have made the insurance of facilities from natural disasters compulsory. Concerning the fact that a small number of facilities in Serbia are insured from all risks, I find it necessary to consider introduction of such model in Serbia as well.

eKapija: According to the company's plans, in accordance with your growth in the first three quarters. you should end the year 2010 with the market share of about 6%. Have you fulfilled your plan?

- Thanks to our strategy based on multichannel insurance sales, quality insurance products, focus on excellent client service and innovative IT solutions, we have managed to achieve the largest growth of all insurance companies in Serbia for the fourth year in a row. In nine months of this year, we registered a growth of 28.70% against the same period in 2009.

Because of such growth, our share in the insurance market now amounts to 5.74%, which is 1.03% more than in the same period last year. Based on the previous trend in the last quarter, our market share will certainly exceed 6%, meaning that we will fulfill the plan for this year. Unfortunately, the average insurance market growth of 5.56% in RSD shows that the insurance market is actually becoming smaller because, if we take into account the Dinar exchange rate devaluation, the premium in EUR is smaller when compared to the same period in 2009. That shows that the crisis is still present, although I want to underline that the whole insurance industry is stable and that clients should have no fear.

eKapija: This year you were the only insurance company to launch several new services, one of which is "Meteo" service. What are the user's reactions?

- "Meteo Uniqa" is a free and exclusive service for our clients, which includes sending of sms or e-mail messages to our clients with the aim of informing them on forthcoming bad weather in the place of their residence. Let's say, for example, if you expect a storm in your town of residence in few hours, you will close windows, park your car in the garage, postpone a travel. Over 10,000 our clients are currently using this service. The rule that a preventive is the best cure applies to all clients, including the users of "Meteo Uniqa" service.

eKapija: What is the plan of Uniqa Osiguranje for year 2011?

- Our plan for the next year is focused on further growth of the market share, development of new attractive insurance products, as well as continuation of development of innovative IT solutions that will enable servicing of clients at the time and place they find the most suitable.