Astra Asigurări, a company controlled by businessman Dan Adamescu, climbed to the top position of the ranking of Romanian insurance companies after underwriting 1.11 billion lei (264 million euros) in gross premiums last year, toppling Allianz-}iriac, which had filled the no.1 position for seven years.
The Germans at Allianz, however, feature in the statistics of the UNSAR (insurers' professional association) with the biggest volume of premiums collected, almost 1.13 billion lei, 91 million lei more than the premiums collected by Astra.
Premiums collected best reflect the financial year in the reporting period, being a similar indicator to the turnover of a company in any other field, while premiums underwritten provide a good idea of a company's future business. Underwritten premiums are commitments undertaken by companies through contracts sealed at a certain time, which means they are set to collect premiums in the future, based on these contracts.
"Premiums collected usually best reflect an insurer's business. Normally, there should not be a big difference between underwritten and collected premiums, but it depends on each company's accounting system," says Cristian Fugaciu, general manager of Marsh insurance broker.
Allianz did not effectively collect more money from clients, with the amount in excess of the underwritten premiums being the result of an accounting calculation. The money that exceeds the value of the gross underwritten premiums is the amount that insurers remove from the premium reserves as they collect money from previously-issued policies. Premium reserves are equivalent to commitments undertaken by an insurance company, but without collecting money from the insured.
Astra Asigurări, a company controlled by businessman Dan Adamescu, climbed to the top position of the ranking of Romanian ins
