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 9,386.0 million in Group premiums in 2017, an increase of 3.7% 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 6.2%. Vienna Insurance Group retained EUR 8,585.3 million of the gross premiums written. EUR 800.8 million was ceded to reinsurance companies (2016: EUR 810.6 million).

Premiums written grew particularly in Slovakia (+10.6%), Hungary (+10.0%), Poland (+8.2%) and the Czech Republic (+4.9%). In the Remaining CEE countries, Bosnia-Herzegovina (+23.2%) and Serbia (+12.4%) recorded major premium increases in 2017. Overall, the Group generated 58.3% of its premiums outside Austria in 2017.

Net earned premiums rose by 3.9%, from EUR 8,191.3 million in 2016 to EUR 8,509.6 million in 2017. Net reinsurance cessions were EUR 793.5 million (2016: EUR 787.0 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 6,872.6 million in 2017, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.8% (2016: EUR 6,753.4 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 consolidated companies of Vienna Insurance Group increased 6.9% year-on-year to EUR 2,040.3 million in 2017 (2016: EUR 1,907.8 million). This was primarily due to the increase in commissions and generally corresponded to the increase in premiums, not including single premium products.