Garanta sees 55% growth in Q1

Garanta Asigurari (Garanta Insurance), a member of the Greek financial group National Bank of Greece (NBG), underwrote gross premiums worth 21.2 million RON (6.27 million euros) in the first three months of this year, up 55% on last year. Garanta’s increase was higher than the 41% growth rate witnessed by the Romanian insurance market in the first quarter of 2007. “The broadening of our client portfolio, as a result of the NBG group expanding its activity in Romania, as well as the positive effects of the merger with NBG Asigurari (NBG Insurance) were all factors behind the increase in our volume of gross underwritten premiums resulting from insurance operations,” stated Daniela Grigore, deputy general manager of Garanta Asigurari. The insurer is currently involved in the ongoing process of a merger with NBG Insurance (formerly Alpha Insurance), a company bought by the NBG group at the end of 2005.