News
Russia: Aviva announces expansion plans for Russian market
19 April, 2007
Aviva has announced expansion plans for the Russian market, confirming it is on track to achieve a top five position within five years. A year after the launch of Aviva Russia, the company has already gained a leadership position in the life insurance market, providing life insurance contracts to more than 200 companies and establishing a non-state pension fund aimed at corporate clients. Reflecting Aviva's expertise in bancassurance, the company has also forged partnerships with three leading retail banks: Credit Europe Bank, Banque Accord and Probinsnesbank.
Building on this strong start, Aviva is now poised to enter the direct sales market with the launch of its Moscow-based direct sales force, and the company is driving product innovation with a campaign to introduce a type of unit-linked product to Russia, a first for the market.
A year on from receiving a license to operate in the Russian market, Aviva has created a thriving new operation, demonstrating a strong multi-distributional capability, with focus on the most effective model to benefit from the market potential.
To meet the considerable demand growth for employee benefits, including employer-administered voluntary pension plans in Russia, the company has established an "Aviva" Non-State Pension Fund. The fund has been officially registered and is now in a closing acquisition stage. This will provide Aviva's corporate clients with the opportunity to design a competitive employee benefit package in a most reliable and cost-efficient way.
To further strengthen its competitive position in the Russian corporate life insurance market, Aviva has become the Associate Insurer in the Russian Federation for the IGP - the largest pooling network in the world. This provides the Russian subsidiaries of the IGP's 770 multi-national corporations with the opportunity to choose Aviva for their employee benefits needs with the additional advantages available by insuring through an IGP network member.
On the retail side, Aviva has entered into three bancassurance partnerships with leading retail banks operating in Russia, namely Credit Europe Bank (formerly, Finansbank), Banque Accord (part of the Auchan Group), and Probisnesbank. As part of the partnership agreements, Aviva provides insurance coverage for banks' loan customers and credit cardholders, and stand alone protection products through banks' branches. Aviva will continue to expand its bancassurance partnerships and plans to introduce new initiatives such as launching savings products to specific bank customer groups.
To further enhance our position in the retail market, Aviva has recruited the first DSF for the "pilot" agency in Moscow. The company aims to build a high quality scalable business model by leveraging Aviva's successful DSF model in the UK and the Netherlands. In this model, DSF candidates are recruited on a full-time fixed income plus commissions basis. This is an innovative approach which will enable Aviva to select quality candidates and gain competitive advantage in the retail market.
Aviva is committed to being an active player in the Russian life insurance market. As part of its efforts to promote market growth, Aviva has initiated a campaign to introduce regulatory changes that will drive product innovation, including unit-linked - a most attractive life insurance product in developed markets, that provides not only life cover, but also an opportunity to increase the value of the money invested - that was supported by a number of other insurance companies.
Andrei Doubinine, Aviva Russia CEO, said: "Aviva has been growing at a fast rate, and we are on a sure track to establish ourselves as a strong player in the Russian life insurance market. In less than a year, we have concluded life insurance contracts with over 200 companies, providing insurance cover to more than 50,000 employees.
"Our strategy to become a partner of choice for each bank we cooperate with bears fruit. Over 200,000 bank customers are now covered by Aviva's insurance. We see huge potential in partnering with banks, and our world-wide bancassurance experience affords an excellent opportunity to grow this business and add value to customers.
"We plan to expand our operations, strengthen our bancassurance and DSF channels and launch new products. We are confident that our initiatives in sales, distribution, marketing and product development will result in substantial growth in the coming years."
Philip Scott, executive director of Aviva, said: "Aviva has a long history in Russia, dating back to 1856, and we are excited by the significant potential the Russian market offers. We are aiming for a top five position in Russia and our talented local team has made an excellent start, establishing a number of bancassurance partnerships, driving product innovation and capturing a sizeable share of the life insurance market.
"Leveraging Aviva's international expertise, we are now perfectly positioned to take advantage of the expected rapid growth of Russia's life insurance industry."
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Enquiries:
Aviva plc
Vanessa Rhodes
media relations manager
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7662 2482
Aviva Russia
Yevgenia Kroupnova
head of marketing
Telephone: +7 495 411 7114
Notes to editors:
Aviva is the leading provider of life and pensions to Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world, making it the world's fifth largest insurance group based on gross worldwide premiums at 31 December 2005.
Aviva's principal business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £364 billion at 31 December 2006.
