ERGO and UniCredit start bancassurance sales in Central and Eastern European countries

Düsseldorf / Ljubljana. ERGO Insurance Group and UniCredit Group have started sales of ERGO insurance products in UniCredit bank subsidiaries in Slovenia. Operations in Slovakia, Hungary and Romania are scheduled to start during the first half of 2009. With the co-operation in Central and Eastern European countries (CEE), both Groups extend their long-term partnership to a dynamic growth region.

ThomasSchöllkopf, in charge of CEE operations on the Board of Management of ERGO Interna-tional AG, said: "We are pleased that the successful co-operation with UniCredit is now being extended to Slovenia. Our customers will benefit from the combined strength of two partners: UniCredit as a renowned European bank and ERGO as one of the largest European Insurance Groups. Due to our long-term co-operation, we are able to offer reliable, high-quality products to our customers." 

The Slovenian UniCredit branches will start with sales of unit-linked life insurance products which ideally complement traditional bank products. The product range will later be extended step-by-step. ERGO Zavarovalnica d. d. seated in Ljubljana will be the product provider for Slovenia.

Expansion to further countries

Bancassurance business operations in Slovakia and Hungary will start till the end of 2008. In Romania, sales are expected to start during the first half of 2009. In Russia, ERGO’s bancassur-ance activities already started in 2007.

The sales of insurance products via UniCredit subsidiaries are based on a framework agreement between UniCredit, ERGO and ERGO’s parent company Munich Re which aims at the extension of the successful bancassurance co-operation in Germany, Austria and Poland to further growth markets in the CEE region. ERGO concentrates its bancassurance activities in Austria and the CEE region in its company ERGO Austria International AG seated in Vienna. The company plays a key role in the co-operation by providing central services such as accounting, actuarial support, controlling and IT via a service company for subsidiaries in the different countries.

The CEE countries represent one of the core regions in ERGO’s international growth strategy, due to their strong economic growth and the improving living standards of their population which will lead to a rising demand for provision products. It is expected that bancassurance sales will become the most important sales channel for insurance products in the region.