Baltic, Financial Services, Insurance

Last year, the companies of the BTA group saw their gross premiums in the Baltics and foreign countries decline 8% from 2014 to EUR 164.8 million as the company restructured its business portfolio, cutting premiums in unprofitable types of insurance, the company said in a statement to the media.

In 2015, the companies of the BTA group paid out EUR 99.6 million in indemnities in the Baltic States and foreign countries, up 12.7% against 2014. The companies paid EUR 398,000 a workday on average in indemnities during 2015.

In the Baltic States, the BTA companies raised premiums in voluntary insurance by 4.4% year-on-year to EUR 74.3 million in 2015. The most significant increase in the Baltic states was achieved in accident insurance where premiums grew 18.9% year-on-year, motor own damage (MOD) insurance (+7.6%) and property insurance (+6.9%).

To increase profitability, the company consistently reduced the share of premiums in the unprofitable types of mandatory insurance. Last year, the share of premiums in mandatory motor third party liability (MTPL) insurance in the Baltic States contracted to 12%.

Indemnities paid out by the companies of the BTA group in the Baltic States last year grew 15.1% to EUR 70.5 million as the number of road accidents and costs of car maintenance and health care services climbed in 2015.

In December 2014, Austria's Vienna Insurance Group purchased a majority stake in Latvia's BTA Baltic Insurance Company (BTA Baltic).

The transaction still has to be approved by the regulators.

Vienna Insurance Group is one of the largest insurance groups in Central and Eastern Europe. Vienna Insurance Group already has a branch of Compensa Life Vienna Insurance Group SE (life insurance) and a branch of Compensa TU S.A. Vienna Insurance Group (non-life insurance) operating in the Latvian market.