Brief: Austria
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Brief: Austria Business Development Market Intelligence June 2007 www.lloyds.com/marketintelligence Security classification: confidential Disclaimer "This document is intended for general information purposes only. Whilst all care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information Lloyd's does not accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions. Lloyd's does not accept any responsibility or liability for any loss to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of, but not limited to, any statement, fact, figure, expression of opinion or belief contained in this document". For enquiries relating to this brief, please contact: James Sutherland Head, Operations Lloyd’s Business Development One Lime Street London EC3M 7HA United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)20 7327 6883 Email: [email protected] Chantal-Marie Preston Analyst Market Intelligence Lloyd’s Business Development One Lime Street London EC3M 7HA United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)20 7327 5026 Email: [email protected] Questions? For information regarding Market Intelligence publications, please contact: [email protected] Security classification: confidential at-mi-2007-06-25-brief 3 KEY INFORMATION Official name Republic of Austria Capital Vienna Population (2007) 8.2m World rank: 93 Languages German (official nationwide), Turkish, Serbian, Croatian Area 83,870 sq km; land 98%, water 2% World rank: 115 Climate Temperate, continental, cloudy; cold winters and moderate summers business environment GDP* (2006) USD 279.5bn World rank: 37 Real GDP growth rate (2006) 3.3% GDP* per capita (2006) USD 35,500 World rank: 16 GDP (by sector) (2006) Agriculture: 02% Industry: 30% Services: 68% Unemployment rate (2006) 4.9% Public debt (2006) 63 % of GDP Budget (2006) Revenues: USD 155.9bn Expenditures: USD 161.6bn Industries Construction, machinery, vehicles, food, metals, chemicals, wood processing, paper, communications equipment, tourism. insurance environment BUSINESS CLASSES (2005) Premium levels (2005) USD 10.1bn World rank: 18 (2005) PA & Healthcare* Real premium growth 1.3% 26% Property 24% Premium penetration (2005) Poland: 3.3% (= premiums as a proportion of GDP) EU 25 countries average: 3.2% Austria 2005: USD 10.1bn OECD average: 3.7% Liability 7% Motor 36% Regulator: Austrian Financial Market Authority www.fma.gv.at Miscellaneous 6% MAT 1% * Written by non-life companies Main Industry Association: Austrian Insurance Association (VVO) www.vvo.at LLOYD’S BUSINESS Premium levels (2006) USD 49m Lloyd’s rank: 50 Comparable market size (2006) Egypt Lloyd’s representative None Lloyd’s is licensed to write all types of direct services business and all classes of reinsurance. Lloyd’s status However, Lloyd’s is not authorised to write establishment business. Lloyd’s agency network www.lloydsagency.com Glossary * GDP measured in purchasing power parity Rankings: 1 = highest rank Currency abbreviations: USD = US Dollar, GBP = British Pound Exchange rates: USD 1 = EUR 0.80 (2006); USD 1 = GBP 0.54 (2006) For consistency, data is taken from the CIA World Factbook 2007, Sigma, AXCO, www.oanda.com and Lloyd’s For compliance guidance visit www.lloyds.com/worldwide or contact Lloyd’s International Trading Advice on +44 (0)20 7327 6677 Security classification: confidential at-mi-2007-06-25-brief Executive summary 4 Executive summary Austria is becoming increasingly integrated with the new and potential members of the EU, both economically and through insurance. This integration is encouraging the growth of insurance companies based in Austria to spread eastwards. As such, Lloyd’s is generally only handling specialist and niche business from Austria. Austria is seeking greater integration with the EU A key policy of the uneasy SPÖ-ÖVP alliance is to increase linkages between Austria and the EU. This aim is being pursued through economic policies such as the partial opening of 1 Austria’s labour market to EU workers and the increasing infrastructure linkages with new and potential member states in Eastern Europe. However, Austria is still keen to protect its own interests, as clearly seen through its defence of its university quota system. Whilst the Austrian economy is relatively robust, its success is closely tied into the performance of other EU member states. Austria’s own economic growth is being driven through key drivers, including: tourism, the automotive industry, biotechnology and venture capital and private equity. However, Austria’s ageing population and the inefficiency of the government will continue to challenge economic growth in the medium term. Austrian insurance is becoming increasingly entwined The success of the Austrian insurance market is tied into the performance of insurance globally. This can be seen most clearly through the reaction of the market to the events of 2 9/11 and the ensuing worldwide reduction in reinsurance capacity. Moreover, as Austrian insurers continue to open operations in Eastern Europe, from which they derive up to a third of premium income, Austrian insurance is becoming increasingly interlinked with the insurance markets of Eastern Europe. Opportunities in Eastern Europe may come as a welcome relief for Austrian insurers which are suffering from increasing domestic competition due to the new Freedom of Services regulations. The Austrian non-life market is heavily influenced by motor, PA & healthcare and property, which together account for 86% of business. Lloyd’s is a specialist and niche insurer in Austria Lloyd’s business from Austria is fairly small, but growing quickly compared to its regional peers. Much of Lloyd’s income from Austria is centred around the Q1 renewals. Over half of 3 Lloyd’s business is property, however, even within this traditional class of business Lloyd’s is tending to focus on the specialist and niche types of insurance which are not available within the local market. The broker market within Austria is fairly diversified, but the bigger brokers for Lloyd’s tend to focus on property business. Security classification: confidential at-mi-2007-06-25-brief Contents 5 Contents Executive summary 4 Business environment 6 Political overview 6 Economic overview 8 Economic challenges 12 Insurance environment 14 Regional premiums 14 Level of development 14 Country premiums 15 Business classes 15 Market players 18 Distribution 22 Factors affecting performance 23 Lloyd’s business 25 Regional premiums 25 Country premiums 25 Lloyd’s status 26 Business classes 26 Broker analysis 27 Bibliography 28 Appendix 30 Glossary EEA European Economic Area EU European Union GDP Gross Domestic Product MAT Marine, Aviation and Transit OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ÖVP Austrian People’s Party PA Personal Accident SPÖ Social Democratic Party Security classification: confidential at-mi-2007-06-25-brief Business environment 6 Business environment Political overview Austria is a federal republic. The official Head of State is the Bundespräsident (Federal President) Heinz Fischer, although this is mainly a ceremonial office. The current The country vests its legislative power in the Federal Cabinet and the National Assembly. government is a SPÖ-ÖVP As proportional representation is used to elect the National Assembly members, there are often coalitions between parties. In October 2006 the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) won coalition the legislative election, but needed to form a coalition with the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) in order to form a majority government. However, the decision to revive the grand coalition, which governed between 1987 and 2000, was not without controversy.1 Tensions persist between coalition partners Tensions persist in the A new ‘grand coalition’ government, comprising of the SPÖ and the ÖVP, entered office in January 2007 with a strong parliamentary majority. Whilst Austria has a long tradition of SPÖ-ÖVP coalition and SPÖ-ÖVP coalition governments, the current coalition followed three months of often the alliance is uneasy fractious negotiations between the two parties. Indeed, the SPÖ surrendered many of its key policies in its agreement with the ÖVP and let the ÖVP secure the most prestigious cabinet positions. Many Austrian voters now feel that the SPÖ is now less credible and a poll taken in early 2007 showed that roughly two-thirds of Austrians thought that the SPÖ had surrendered too much.2 Whilst the coalition remains stable, tensions persist and the alliance continues to be uneasy as the SPÖ attempts to stamp its authority on the coalition. The political tensions that persist in Austria are reflected in its governance indicators. Whilst Austria marginally exceeds the OECD average on all governance indicators (with the exception of voice and accountability), Austria’s score for political stability is significantly below that of the other indicators. Nonetheless, Austria’s governance as a whole is better than 92% of countries worldwide. CHART 1: local versus regional governance indicators3 (2005)4 Voice and accountability 100 75 Austria performs Control of corruption 50 Political stability marginally higher than 25 the OECD average on all 0 governance indicators Rule of law Government effectiveness Austria Regulatory quality OECD average 1 Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2007) 2 Economist Intelligence Unit (2007) 3 The above chart depicts the global percentile rank on each governance indicator. Percentile rank indicates the percentage of countries worldwide that are below the rank of the selected country.