Violeta Ciurel, who was for five years president of ING Asigurări de Viaţă (ING Life Insurance) - market leader of the segment - and then worked with the Dutch group in Amsterdam, is returning to Bucharest as president of AXA Romania, the local subsidiary of the French insurance giant that took over Omniasig Asigurări de Viaţă at the beginning of the year. She will answer to Cyrille de Montgolfier, CEO of AXA Central and Eastern Europe. "I am certain Violeta Ciurel will use her vast expertise in the insurance industry to continue to develop AXA in Romania," Montgolfier said.
The French have chosen one of the best-known Romanian managers in life insurance to launch operations on the Romanian market after several years of testing the waters and proving reluctant to invest big amounts to buy a relevant player. So Ciurel now takes over a loss-making company with a mere 1.6% market share, after running life insurance market leader ING.
AXA has yet to announce plans for the Romanian market, with a first step being the renaming of Omniasig Asigurări de Viaţă as AXA Romania. Violeta Ciurel's decision to become involved in this project, however, indicates the existence of a solid strategy on the part of the powerful French group, which manages over 1,000 billion-euro in assets.
Violeta Ciurel, who was for five years president of ING Asigurări de Viaţă (ING Life Insurance) - market leader of the segment - and then worked with the Dutch group in Amsterdam, is returning to Bucharest as president of AXA Romania, the local subsidiary of the French insurance giant that took over Omniasig Asigurări de Viaţă at the beginning of the year. She will answer to Cyrille de Montgolfier, CEO of AXA Central and Eastern Europe. "I am certain Violeta Ciurel will use her vast expertise in the insurance industry to continue to develop AXA in Romania," Montgolfie
