Insurance and reinsurance company CertAsig, majority owned by investment fund Royalton Capital Investors II, could open an office in Turkey next year, if its marine insurance business will continue its current growth trend, James Grindley (in picture), CEO CertAsig said in an interview for Romania-Insider.com.

“We are doing a lot of business in Turkey. About 85 percent of the marine business is from the Turkish market, as we insure ships trading on the Black Sea. Most of those vessels are Turkish-managed. We are underwriting general aviation insurance business, typically smaller private jets, charter aircraft and helicopters, in Romania and we would like to also extend that to Turkey now,” Grindley told Romania-Insider.com. “Assuming the  the marine business continues to be so good, as it is now, we will consider opening an office there next year,” he went on.

The company also plans to expand the business in the neighboring countries, in the future, without opening branches at this stage. “We will start to first feel the market, work with brokers there, and then we’ll see,” said James Grindley.

The marine insurance segment covered around half of CertAsig's business in the first half of this year. The company expects a growth of 30 percent on its marine insurance business, as well as on liability, CASCO and property insurance for next year.

CertAsig posted gross written premiums of EUR 3.3 million in the first half of this year, compared to EUR 4.9 million reported for full-2010, according to James Grindley. “The second half of the year, particularly June was very good, while more recently August was slow, the slowest month of the year,” James Grindley went on.

The number of CertAsig's clients decreased in the first half of this year by 10 to 15 percent. “Last year we had around 25,000 policies, while in the first half of this year the number is somewhere between 7,500 to 8,000," according to James Grindley. The company focuses on corporate clients rather than individuals and works with insurance brokers across the country.

Grindley, who took the helm of CertAsig a year and a half ago, switched from a retail – focused business to a corporate – oriented business. “Our strategy to focus on corporate clients is far better and we work mostly with brokers," he says.

The increase this year was recorded mostly on the marine business, cargo, and also on bond insurance. For the first seven months, the Motor CASCO represented 15 percent of the portfolio, while the marine insurance segment, almost 50 percent. For the rest of the year the company expects the CASCO segment to increase the most, up to 25 percent, due to reduced deductibles.

The insurance company plans to control the internal costs next year. “We’ve already started this. Last year, we had 95 people and now we have about 40, but the productivity has increased, while the costs have gone down,” said James Grindley. Also, the company plans to develop the three branches opened in Romania, in Timisoara, Cluj and Constanta, to introduce new products on the market, and to increase profitability.

CertAsig plans to increase the business in all insurance segments, in the following months. The bigger growth is expected to be in the CASCO, bond and liability segment. However, the smallest increases are expected in the aviation and health segments, because the insurance market is still small, according to Grindley. For the next year, CASCO, marine insurance, liability and property are expected to increase with about 30 percent.

CertAsig insurance company was formed in 2003. In December 2007, 99.13 percent of the company was acquired by Royalton Capital Investors II, an European private equity fund specialized in developing business in new European member states. When it took over, the investment fund pledged to support the company's growth in Central and Eastern Europe.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

editing by Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(photo source: CertAsig)