The subsidiaries of the UNIQA Group in Poland achieved a growth of preliminary premium volume for 2008 by approximately 118.3% to EUR 547 million (PLN 1.9 billion). The market growth was approximately at 35.7%.

"This significant sales growth by over three times more than the market is a result of our deliberate strategy, based on the sales channels diversification. Continuing the successful cooperation with Raiffeisen Group by means of increasing the sales volume and developing the product offer, we also focus strongly on the other channels. As far as both the life and the non-life sector is concerned, the growing contribution of exclusive and broker sales is significant," Jaroslaw Parkot, CEO of the UNIQA companies in Poland, said. For the future, Parkot is relying above all on still greater sales volume: "Despite the hard macroeconomic situation, UNIQA Poland aims to keep growing much faster than the market."

According to the preliminary data, the strongest growth rates were seen in life insurance with an increase of 401.9% to EUR 332 million (PLN 1.15 billion). The main factor in this increase significantly exceeding the general market trend was the positive further development of the bank assurance channel.

The premiums in the non-life sector increased by 16.6% to approximately EUR 215 million (PLN 749 million) (market growth: 11.8%). Particularly pronounced growth can be seen here in automotive and household insurance.

UNIQA employs roughly 900 salaried employees in Poland, manages almost 1.6 million contracts and has over 290 customer offices and agencies throughout the country.