Astra Asigurari reported a 23% rise in underwritten premiums last year and expects a similar increase this year, which could see its business hit the one billion-RON mark.

Astra, the only Romanian-controlled insurer in the top ten, whose majority shareholder is businessman Dan Adamescu, ended last year with 800 million RON in overall underwritten premiums (190 million euros - unaudited results), 23% more than in the previous year, amid a stagnation of the overall insurance market.

Many insurance companies recorded declines last year on segments such as auto insurance and life insurance, due to companies cutting their insurance budgets, to individual clients earning lower incomes, and to the rise in unemployment. The hardest hit segment was life insurance, which fell by 10% in the first nine months of last year, according to the latest available data.

"We recorded rises on the RCA segment (auto liability insurance) - due to charging competitive premiums and to launching an online sales website, which I think is now showing its worth. We also saw a rise on the property segment thanks to the campaign for selling home insurance via SMS, while premiums doubled on the life insurance segment, but still account for a low share of the total," said Radu Mustatea, Astra's general manager.

In the first half of 2009, the company launched one of the biggest sales campaigns for home insurance, which brought it over one million clients. The insurer sold a standard product - 20-euro annual premium and a 20,000-euro insured sum, similar to the mandatory insurance that could be introduced this year, but with payment via SMS.

The rise of Astra's underwritten premiums also has to do with the company winning auctions for aviation insurance, a segment where the company is number 1. Astra's aviation insurance portfolio includes clients such as Tarom, Romatsa, B