Aviva eyes second place

Aviva Romania has invested 1.5 million dollars this year and plans to invest a similar sum by yearend. Most of the funds will be aimed at the development of the life insurance sales network, as explained by Adrian Allott, the company’s actuarial and financial director. The company plans to secure the second position on the market, though not any time soon. “In 2002, we accounted for 4% of the market. We expect to grow gradually. Our possible target is the second position on the market. When will we reach it? I cannot tell you this,” Allott told Ziarul Financiar. In 2002, Aviva was fifth on the market in terms of market share, due to its 165 billion ROL in gross premiums collected. Top insurer was ING Nederlanden (2,456 billion ROL in gross premiums collected), followed by Asirom (477 billion ROL), AIG Life (349 billion ROL) and Lukoil Asito (178 billion ROL). Aviva Romania has approximately 700 consultants and is about to expand its network, according to Allott. He says that the company’s policy is to not sell through brokers. “We prefer to sell using our own resources. I think this gives us a better control, a better quality of sales, which not all brokers can offer. We want to be in control. But in the future we will investigate other offers and we might adopt this method as well,” Allott said. ZF