Organic growth
The Vienna Insurance Group’s goal is to further develop its leading position in the Austrian insurance market. In fiscal year 2007, EUR 3,695.37 million or approximately 53.5 % of Group premiums written and EUR 286.80 million or approximately 65.6% of the profit before taxes for the Group as a whole was generated in Austria. This makes the Vienna Insurance Group the market leader in Austria.* Branch offices in Italy and Slovenia also belong to Vienna Insurance Group Austria. Although in principle the Austrian insurance market is already developed, the insurance penetration (Premiums' share of GDP) in the life insurance business is significantly below the average of Western European countries. The conversion of the social system in particular, and the accompanying rise in demand for private pension products in recent years, present new business opportunities for coming years. The Vienna Insurance Group seeks to take advantage of this opportunity to further expand its market share in Austria.
Distribution power
The Vienna Insurance Group has well established distribution channels in Austria and plans to continue expanding them further. The effectiveness of one of the key distribution channels, the Group’s field sales force, will be further strengthened by customer-oriented improvements to distribution and settlement processes and increased cross selling. The Vienna Insurance Group works with independent distribution partners in individual classes and for the entire product range. Collaboration with distribution partners will be further expanded using multi-channel distribution. Cooperation agreements with two major financial institutions (Erste Bank Group and Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG) place the Vienna Insurance Group in a very strong position in terms of bank distribution.
