Insurers get 420m euros from shareholders in a crisis year

Insurance companies on the Romanian market received from their shareholders almost 420 million euros in the first year of crisis, i.e. in the September 2008 – September 2009 period, according to data from the Romanian Trade Registry (ONRC). Insurers’ shareholders therefore pumped much more money into the system than banks’ shareholders, who made capital increases worth 325 million euros in all. Around 65% of capital injections in the insurance sector, i.e. 271 million euros, came from shareholders in France. French group Groupama, the most active investor on the insurance market over the last two years has brought over 267 million euros to the capital of companies it holds since September 2008. Another French shareholder that pumped money in the insurance sector is Société Générale, which invested 3.3 million euros in BRD Asigurari de Viata (BRD Life Insurance), a company that has recently entered the market. The second-highest capital increase was operated by Austrian-held Uniqa, which invested over 77 million euros in Unita (which in the meantime changed its name to Uniqa Asigurari).