Allianz Group, UniCredit and Generali have signed a long-term cooperation agreement for the distribution of insurance products in Central Eastern Europe.
With this agreement, which will gradually start in the second half of 2018, UniCredit will partner with Allianz in providing its customers access to life, property and casualty insurance in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.
The long term partnerships, combining UniCredit’s strong business in the region with the partners’ deep insurance expertise, will provide UniCredit clients easy access to Allianz’s insurance solutions through UniCredit’s branch network and digital platforms.
Petros Papanikolaou, regional CEO CEE of Allianz SE said: “UniCredit customers will benefit from our extensive expertise as demand rises for life, health, property and casualty insurance in CEE. We can now protect those customers at key moments in their life.”
UniCredit has recently streamlined its bancassurance business in CEE with the creation of the CEE Bancassurance Business Area, led by Arcangelo M. Vassallo – who reports directly to Carlo Vivaldi, head of CEE division.
Central and Eastern Europe represents a significant growth market for the insurance industry. Penetration rates are well below those in Western Europe. Bancassurance is expected to be an important distribution channel to close the penetration gap in the coming years.
