Premium volume and expenses

Premium volume

A detailed disclosure of premium development is included in Note 15 Premiums written of the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

Vienna Insurance Group wrote EUR 9,657.3 million in Group premiums in 2018, an increase of 2.9% compared to the same period in the previous year. Excluding the single premium life insurance business, the Group recorded an even larger increase in premiums of 5.2%. VIG retained EUR 8,811.1 million of the gross premiums written (2017: EUR 8,585.3 million). EUR 846.2 million was ceded to reinsurance companies (2017: EUR 800.8 million).

Premiums written grew particularly strongly in the Baltic states (+14.7%), Bulgaria (+14.1%) and Czech Republic (+5.0%) segments. In the Remaining CEE segment, Croatia (+15.1%) and Ukraine (+16.2%) recorded major premium increases. Overall, the Group generated 59.3% of its premiums outside Austria in 2018.

Net earned premiums rose 2.6%, from EUR 8,509.6 million in 2017 to EUR 8,729.4 million in 2018. Net reinsurance cessions were EUR 823.0 million (2017: EUR 793.5 million).

Expenses for claims and insurance benefits

A detailed disclosure of expenses for claims and insurance benefits is included in Note 19 Expenses for claims and insurance benefits of the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

Group expenses for claims and insurance benefits less reinsurers’ share were EUR 6,947.0 million in 2018, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.1% (2017: EUR 6,872.6 million).

Acquisition and administrative expenses

A detailed disclosure of acquisition and administrative expenses is included in Note 20 Acquisition and administrative expenses of the notes to the consolidated financial statements.

Acquisition and administrative expenses for all VIG consolidated companies increased 4.9% year-on-year to EUR 2,140.7 million in 2018 (2017: EUR 2,040.3 million). This was primarily due to the increase in commissions and generally corresponded to the increase in premiums, not including single premium products.