Munich (dpa -AFX) – The insurance chamber connected to the savings banks reports a record result regardless of the economic crisis and rising costs. Last year the annual surplus rose by a good four percent from 341 to 386 million euros, as the company in Munich announced. The premium income rose from 8.7 to a good 9 billion euros.
According to the company, the insurance chamber has become the largest public insurer nationwide and has now risen among the top ten in the industry in Germany. The core areas are Bavaria and the Palatinate, and regional companies in Saarland as well as in Berlin and Brandenburg are active. The group has 7,500 employees nationwide.
Storm cause high costs
In the past year, the insurance chamber was hard hit by severe hailstore and floods, which cost costs with a total of 380 million euros. On the other hand, however, health insurance went well: the two subsidiaries
– the Bavarian civil servant health insurance (BK) and the nationwide
Union health insurance (UKV) increased their premium income by 3.8 percent to 3.1 billion euros.
The overall finance industry has so far largely been excluded from the ongoing economic crisis. According to an old rule of thumb, high damage to insurance companies is rather positive than negative, as this increases the demand from customers. Longer phases with very low damage, on the other hand, are not gratifying for the industry ./cho/dp/jha