OREANDA-NEWS. On 24 August 2009 was announced, that according to the preliminary results of 6 months of 2009, the consolidated premium collected by the companies of the INGO Group - Ingosstrakh IJSC (Russia), SOFAG (Germany), INGO Ukraine (Ukraine), Garant (Austria), IngoNord (Finland), Belingosstrakh (Republic of Belarus), Ingo Armenia (Republic of Armenia),  Kyrgyzinstrakh (Kyrgyz Republic), Ingo Uzbekistan  (Uzbekistan), Ingosstrakh Life (Russia),  Emergency Insurance Company (Russia), INGO Ukraine Life (Ukraine) - under the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) amounted to RUB 29.0bln ac compared with RUB 26.4bln in the same period last year  (an increase of 10%).

The consolidated insurance premium collected by the companies of INGO Group comes mainly from Ingosstrakh IJSC - 85%. The insurance portfolio of Ingosstrakh IJSC as of the end of 6 months of 2009 is composed of the following elements: 54% - motor insurance and vehicle owners’ liability; 17% – insurance of property against fire and associated risks; 14% - personal insurance; 5% - cargo insurance, vessel hull insurance and vessel owners’ liability; 10% - other types of insurance.

According to Konstantin Sokolov, the Deputy General Director, Finance and Economy, Ingosstrakh IJSC, “INGO Group is still able to organically increase premium collection in the insurance markets of Russia and CIS regardless of the crisis.  The informed and controllable growth fueled by the professional underwriting policy and sufficient business diversification enables the Group to increase its presence in the market and yields an acceptable level of profitability".

Payments made by the companies of INGO Group in the reported period totaled RUB 16.9bln, which is 31% more than in the same period last year. “The increase in the volume of compensations paid means that in the situation of a deepening crisis of non-payments in the insurance market, the company pays compensations to the clients quickly and in full”,  Konstantin Sokolov said.

The loss ratio of INGO Group over 6 months of 2009 is about 70%, which coupled with a well-balanced policy of spending and professional management of investment assets helps to maintain the operating ratio of 90% that reflects insurance and investment performance results.

The consolidated net profit over 6 months of 2009 has almost doubled and amounted to RUB 2.4bln as compared with RUB 1.2bln in the same period of 2008.       The consolidated assets of the Group as of 01.07.2009 amounted to RUB 78.3bln as compared with RUB  72.0bln at the end of 2008; the insurance reserves increased to RUB 50.7bln from RUB 47.9bln at the end of 2008. The equity capital amounted to RUB 10.7bln (an increase of 16.5% as compared with 2008).

According to Konstantin Sokolov, “the IFRS results of INGO Group over 6 months of 2009 prove that regardless of the crisis situation the Group has reached high performance results and still has financial stability that is unprecedented for the Russian insurance market”.

"Ingosstrakh’s management pays special attention to the analysis of financial performance in compliance with the international financial reporting standards. The fact that the company applies IFRS and that the data is gathered quickly enables the company to take necessary management decisions”,  K.B. Sokolov said.

According to the General Director of the leading Russian rating agency Expert RA Dmitri  Grishankov, “Unfortunately, IFRS reporting among Russian insurance companies is  a rare event, although a very much welcome one. Only this kind of reporting can accurately show insurance reserves of the company, evaluate investments by their market value, provide an accurate assessment of the company’s financial performance, and so on and so forth. IFRS reporting audited by an international firm brings the company to a new level of information transparency and corporate governance, reflects maturity and reliability of internal procedures".