Russia's Raiffeisenbank to offer life insurance products in cooperation with UNIQA

 

Working in cooperation with ZAO Raiffeisenbank, Raiffeisen Life Insurance (a subsidiary of UNIQA Group Austria) has developed special life insurance products and services for the Russian market that will be offered to clients in Raiffeisenbank's nearly 230 branches throughout Russia.

The new UNIQA subsidiary Raiffeisen Life Insurance Company LLC, which was registered in January 2009, received its license for insurance business in July and currently employs a staff of 31 at its Moscow headquarters, is now fully operational. Raiffeisen Life is fully integrated into UNIQA Group and benefits of the company’s experience in products and sales in Austria and UNIQA's subsidiaries in 19 Central and East European countries.

ZAO Raiffeisenbank, a fully-owned subsidiary of Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG, is the appropriate partner for UNIQA to introduce its new products to the Russian market. Herbert Stepic, the CEO of Raiffeisen International, sees a win-win situation in this development: "We have established a preferred partnership model with UNIQA that had already been successfully implemented in 13 CEE markets. In Russia, this co-operation offers UNIQA an ideal distribution network in the form of our nearly 230 branches, while it serves to expand our own palette of offerings with an attractive product line."

The UNIQA subsidiary Raiffeisen Life Insurance Company focuses on Bancassurance (the sale of insurance products over the bank counter). Therefore, the new insurance services are made to suit the individual wishes and risk profiles of clients and the requirements and possibilities of the bank.

Konstantin Klien, CEO UNIQA Group Austria: “Given the dislocations of the financial markets, we are expecting a significant increase in demand for life insurance products in Russia in the future. Therefore, we want to benefit from the potential this market offers along with our partner Raiffeisen. Naming the new company “Raiffeisen Life” suggested itself, as we only provide life insurances in Russia, which are offered primarily via Raiffeisenbank. The fact that UNIQA Group’s life premium volume is, at 2.5 billion euros, five times higher than that of the entire Russian life insurance market at 500 million euros, shows that we are prepared for a big market such as the Russian one. This illustrates the enormous potential the Russian market still has.”

Maxim Chumachenko, CEO Raiffeisen Life Insurance Company: “Interest in innovative and high quality life insurance products is high in Russia, despite the market contraction occurring as a result of the financial crisis. Now that people have attained success and certain living standards, they start to think about financial security. To do this, they are looking for solid offers that will allow them to fulfill their long-term financial plans. In many cases, people want to ensure quality education for their children, for example. This is why products from the life segment are very well received by our clients."
UNIQA and Raiffeisen are operating very successfully as preferred partners in developing, offering, selling and servicing insurance products via banks in Austria and, including Russia, in 14 countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Raiffeisen is a well-established brand in Russia and highly associated with trustworthiness. The experience stemming from this collaboration will benefit new bank and insurance clients in Russia.

Insurance Market Russia

The 717 companies operating on the Russian insurance market generated a gross premium of 25.98 billion euros in 2008. Only 49 per cent of this total comes from optional insurance policies, while health and MTPL insurance make up the remaining 51 per cent. There are 89 companies active in the life segment, which generated a total premium of 510 million euros last year. The insurance density (euros per capita) in Russia is 183 euros. In EU countries, the insurance density is 1,942 euros.

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UNIQA Group is the leading insurance Group in Central- and Eastern Europe. Group’s accumulated premium amounts to 5.8 billion euros, where 38 per cent come outside the home market Austria. The whole group has around 19,000 employees and exclusive partners who serve 7 million clients holding 15 million insurance contracts. About 40 insurance companies in 20 countries form UNIQA Group Austria. For many years UNIQA has been rated “A” by Standard & Poor’s rating agency.

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Raiffeisen International operates one of the largest banking networks in CEE, covering 17 markets across the region through subsidiary banks, leasing companies and a range of other financial service providers. The group's nearly 60,000 employees service around 15 million customers via more than 3,100 business outlets. Raiffeisen International is a fully-consolidated subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB), which owns about 70 per cent of the common stock. The remainder is in free float, with the shares listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. RZB is a leading corporate and investment bank in Austria and the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group, the country's largest banking group.

For further information please contact Michael Palzer (+43-1-71 707-2828, michael.palzer@ri.co.at) or Peter Klopf (+43-1-71 707-1930, peter.klopf@ri.co.at).
http://www.ri.co.at, http://www.rzb.at