EU accession already moving insurance industry

The insurance market is already nervous at the prospect of Romania”s European Union accession, though this is expected to happen one year and a half from now. This is shown by fact that the wave of top management reshuffling is engulfing an increasing number of companies and the small companies are struggling to find solutions for the required capital increases.
Starting January 1, 2007, “insurance companies and intermediaries will discover competition”, warns Paul Mitroi, general manager with the General Regulatory Department of the Insurance Supervision Commission.
The main threat for domestic insurers, given the upcoming EU accession, is, in his opinion, competition, materialised in a possibly higher quality of services, as well as in a higher diversification of the same category.
Nevertheless, Mitroi specified, foreign firms in their turn will resort to the domestic expertise, especially because of the language barrier.
The statement of the CSA official seems valid, considering recent moves related to the management structure of multinationals that are present on the Romanian insurance market. Lately, foreign companies have started appointing locals in key-positions, as well (AIG Life has appointed Theodor Alexandrescu deputy general manager, and Tudor Moldovan has taken over the position of general manager with Generali). These top management changes ensue similar steps by Asirom, Astra, Unita and other major companies on the market.
For some domestic players, though, joining the European market is something more of a challenge than a threat. “We do not see any danger of integration for the insurance market. On the contrary, integration will be a new challenge for insurers to adjust their services, in the context where prices of all services will rise”, commented Dacian Vinereanu, financial manager with Astra Asigurari. “This is an absolutely natural development”, he added. ioana.leaua@zf.ro