The Austrian banking group, Erste Bank, has announced that it is to sell its Austrian insurance activities to Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), Austria’s biggest insurance company. The sale also includes Erste Bank’s insurance operations in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The amount of the transaction is 1.45 billion euros. Moreover, the two financial institutions, which have been partners for fifteen years, have concluded an agreement whereby both parties will sell each other’s products in their respective distribution network in Eastern Europe.

The Dutch bankinsurance group ING announced on 12 February 2008 that it had agreed to sell its Mexican insurance company ING Seguros to the French insurer AXA. The French group is paying 1.5 billion dollars (approximately 1 billion euros) to acquire 100% of the capital of ING Seguros, which is the third largest insurer in Mexico. ING Seguros is particularly active in non-life insurance which represents 80% of its business. It generated revenues of 1.9 billion dollars (1.3 billion euros) in 2007 and has a distribution network of 7 500 agents for 5.5 million customers. This sale translates ING’s policy of refocusing its operations in Mexico around Afore, its company which specialises in life insurance and retirement savings plans.

The French mutual insurer Groupama is to offer car insurance on a new dedicated web site which will open for business in June 2008. The website will operate under a new brand name, Amaguiz.com, specially created by Groupama for this purpose. The car insurance offered will be entirely accessible online with an electronic signature and customers will have the possibility of “pay as you drive” rates. The budget devoted to this new brand and new website is between 100 and 150 million euros. Groupama hopes to attract 100 000 customers over the next four years and plans to extend the product range to home insurance at the end of 2008 and personal insurance in 2009.