FATA Asigurari to expand outside agricultural insurance

The company will use its sales force to develop on the segment of non-agricultural insurance, which is expected to account for 50% of its portfolio by yearend.
“A company that operates exclusively on the segment of agricultural insurance cannot be profitable. We will develop along other insurance lines, non-agricultural ones, so that we can balance our portfolio and ensure that our financial results do not depend on weather conditions so much,” Fanel Plopeanu, general manager of the insurer, told ZF.
FATA posted 2m-euro losses in 2007; a year that Plopeanu says was very bad for agricultural insurance. “It was the rising claims rate that pushed the company into the red, because the remaining operating expenses were in line with the initial budget,” said Plopeanu.
In 2007, the company posted turnover worth around 9.3m euros (31.1m RON), with 72% derived from agricultural insurance.
Comprehensive car insurance, goods or travel insurance brought the company 28% of the overall volume of gross underwritten premiums. To underline the fact it will also sign non-agricultural insurance contracts, the company has recently changed its name from FATA Asigurari Agricole into FATA Asigurari.
To develop along other insurance lines, the company counts on its current sales force. “We’ll use the existing sales force better, because agricultural insurance operations are seasonal and have two peaks: May and December. We have over 34,000 customers, mainly rural companies and it is these companies we want to serve in the first place,” Plopeanu says.
He states the agricultural insurance market has a high growth potential as only 19% of the cultivated agricultural areas (5.7 million hectares) are insured. Romania’s total agricultural area stands at 9.5 million hectares.
FATA manager estimates the agricultural insurance market reached 30 million euros in 2007, a level that will also continue this year, on the one hand amid the lack of moves to stimulate farmers, and on the other hand because of insurers’ falling prices.
“The few competitors on this market have cut rates considerably to gain market share. For instance, the premium quote for a hectare of wheat normally stands at 4.5% of the insured sum, but unfortunately prices have gone down even as low as 1.3%,” states Plopeanu.
“I believe the following years will be better for agricultural insurance because statistically a year as bad as 2007 cannot be registered again in the near future,” explains Plopeanu.
For 2008, FATA Asigurari has budgeted 45% higher gross underwritten premiums and expects to make a profit or at least break even.