OREANDA-NEWS  On 03 June was announced, that in continuation of the annual events dedicated to the strategic planning of the company’s regional development, a strategic dialogue on the development prospects of ROSNO’s Southern Directorate for the years 2009-2011 took place in Krasnodar.

Among the event’s participants were ROSNO’s board members: Mr. Dmitry Popov, First Deputy CEO/COO of ROSNO, and Mr. Maxim Chernin, Deputy CEO of ROSNO and CEO of Allianz ROSNO Life.

The discussion focused on the strategy for further development of the Directorate’s branches for the years 2009 to 2011, based upon operating results and prospects demonstrated by the company’s regional subdivision in 2008 and Q1 2009, and upon the data obtained by analyzing the regional insurance market.

During the strategic dialogue, it was noted that, in 2008, the Southern region’s insurance market expanded by 25%, from 26.8 to 33.6 bn roubles, thus exceeding the average Russian growth rate by 3%. The highest dynamics of growth in insurance premium collected was demonstrated by Stavropol Kraj (+33%), The Astrakhan Region (+30%) and Krasnodar Kraj (+29%). The most active growth in the insurance market of the Southern Federal Okrug was registered in the voluntary motor insurance segment (+35%). According to experts, the average insurance business growth in the southern region for the period of 2008 to 2011 will be near 8%, taking into account the approximate 8% decrease in aggregate premium collected by insurance companies in 2009 vs. the year 2008. In this situation, MOD insurance can turn out to be the most negatively affected business line.

"Our company has always regarded the Russian South as one of the most promising geographical and economic locations and took consistent steps to expand its business in the Southern Federal Okrug, where Krasnodar Kraj plays the major role", stated Mr. Andrey Ulanov, head of ROSNO’s Southern Directorate. "Despite the current economic crisis, in 2009 to 2010 we plan to achieve our target figures in terms of insurance premium collected in this region. This will be possible thanks to the regional network restructuring completed in 2008, which has effectively prepared us for the crisis. Consequently, the results were not late in arriving: already in early 2009, ROSNO’s Southern Directorate won in a tough competition for a number of tenders and attracted large corporate clients in various types of insurance in our top-priority market segments."

In 2008, ROSNO’s Southern Directorate collected 481.9 million roubles of insurance premium. The major portion in the aggregate insurance premium collected pertains to the Krasnodar branch (23.3%), Rostov branch (21.5%) and Stavropol branch (15.1%). Overall, the profit plan set for the Directorate’s regional network for the year 2008 was fulfilled, with financial risk insurance, property insurance, liability insurance and voluntary medical insurance being major drivers of the branches’ profit.

The portfolio of the branches of ROSNO’s Southern Directorate is dominated by such segments as property insurance (30.8%) and voluntary motor insurance (21.8%). This structural specifics results from the completed portfolio resegmentation and containment of growth of the share of OMTPL insurance. In 2008, the share of this segment in the directorate’s portfolio decreased by 2% versus the year 2007, reaching 22.7%.

In Q1 2009, along with the continuing trend of growth in premium collected from property insurance (+6.6% against the same period of the year 2008), liability insurance premium was also on the increase (+2.5%). A considerable growth was shown by the Krasnodar branch (+57.8%), with 43.4 million roubles of insurance premium collected.

During the strategic dialogue, the Southern Directorate outlined its major goals and objectives for the period of 2009 to 2011: entering the group of leading insurance companies of the Southern Region with emphasis on property insurance, agricultural risks insurance, construction and assembly risks insurance, and voluntary medical insurance. The directorate also plans to focus on active development of sales channels, optimization of business processes, and cost reduction.

In addition, Krasnodar, Rostov-Don and Volgograd were named as the key territories whose development plays major role in ROSNO’s strategic plans. Stavropol Kraj will also be paid much attention in such issues as expanding insurance coverage of agricultural risks. In the Republic of Dagestan, the major objective is to retain leading positions while increasing sales profitability.

ROSNO’s strategic plans in the Southern region are in line with the company’s strategy "One +3", concentrated on profitable growth and improvement in the company’s competitive power and value proposition for shareholders and clients. This strategy is acquiring special importance in the current unstable economic situation.

According to Mr. Andrey Ulanov, "achieving leadership in the top-priority regions is quite realistic, because clients presently trust financially sound and customer-focused companies making long-term decisions. To strengthen our positions, we are now scrupulously studying how our clients’ needs are changing, and create the products adapted to modern realities and regional specifics of the demand for insurance services."

Mr. Dmitry Popov, First Deputy CEO/COO of ROSNO, approved the strategic initiatives presented by the Southern Directorate: "We positively view the prospects opening to our company in the Southern Federal Okrug. Taking into account the forthcoming 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the Russian South already represents a promising and rapidly growing region, increasingly attractive to the state and private investors alike, with volume of investments not decreasing even in the times of crisis. In this region, our interest lies in insuring risks that accompany investment projects, in insuring publicly important and infrastructural objects, small and medium businesses playing a notable role in the region; and, indeed, it is important for us to develop prospective insurance coverage of agricultural sector. ROSNO has got all it takes to win leadership in the insurance market of the Southern Federal Okrug: an elaborate strategy, large reinsurance capacity, and customer focus. We will do anything possible to offer our clients the best loss settlement quality in the region."