Sara Merkur takeover drives Grawe''s business up 80%

Insurance company Grawe Romania underwrote nearly 6 million euros (over 21.5 million RON) in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 78% in euros from the same time last year.

The officials of the company say this growth is due to the collaboration with the insurance brokers, as well as to the development of the company”s own sales force. At the end of the first half, the insurer had a network of 17 offices and 400 financial consultants.

Grawe took over the client portfolio of Sara Merkur in September, a company it acquired at the beginning of this year. This portfolio comprises 60,000 contracts, out of which 55,000 are compound life insurance contracts, and the rest are accident insurance policies.

Most of Grawe”s business is generated by compound life insurance policies and additional accident coverage.

The insurer paid over 38,000 euros (140,000 RON) in indemnities for compound life insurance policies in the first three quarters.

The company concluded the first thee quarters with 734,000-euro (2.7 million RON) profit, up 80% in euros from the same time last year.

Starting this week Grawe has added a new product that is similar to a health insurance policy, and an accident insurance product. The products can be purchased by both individuals and groups of people.

The health insurance-like product offered by Grawe is based on indemnities paid to clients and not on partnerships with private medical service providers. “We did not launch private health insurance products because we did not have the necessary infrastructure. If the market develops, there is room for new entries,” explained Adina Mandoiu, the company”s PR co-ordinator.

The health insurance policy covers all expenses pertaining to hospitalisation as a result of the insured becoming ill, of accidents, maternity and childbirth. These expenses are reimbursed to the insured directly, in form of daily indemnities that vary from 10 to 300 RON. The insurance premium is set in line with the daily indemnity the client chooses, age, gender and insurance term that can be 1 to 10 years. angela.placinta@zf.ro