25 years of Allianz in Argentina. How has the company's business in Argentina developed over the past quarter of a century?
Fabiana Castiñeira: The process involved in establishing the company came hand-in-hand with a number of mergers and acquisitions of and with local companies, such as Colón, Plus Ultra, Compañía Aseguradora Argentina or AGF's Argentinean business. Everything has been bundled under the Allianz name since 2007. In the space of only a few years, we have established ourselves as one of the major players on the Argentine insurance market. And, most importantly, we have a stable solvency position and provide our customers with high-quality products and services.
Which objectives are you pursuing at the moment?
We are aiming to continue to grow in a sustainable and profitable manner. Over the past eight years, we have been doubling our business volume every three years. In 2012, my first year in charge of the company, we worked hard to further accelerate that growth rate. And we were successful. 2012 saw us achieve growth to the tune of a good 40 percent, the highest rate achieved in the last eight years. We’re growing significantly above the rate of inflation and we want to continue to outpace the market in terms of growth in the future, too. I expect to see growth of almost 50 percent in 2013.
What were the highlights of last year?
In May 2012, we were granted the ISO 9001:2008 certification for insurance sales, underwriting, policy issuance, dispatch, administration and incident management. We have also strengthened our sales structure and launched new, innovative products on the market, such as insurance for handbag theft. We have also been further developing our existing business units, such as guarantee or agricultural insurance.
Allianz attaches a great deal of importance to supporting its agents. In terms of technology, Allianz has always played a pioneering role in this area. How much progress has Allianz Argentina made in this respect?
With Allianznet, we have a tool that provides us with a solid risk management structure, particularly for large-scale risks. We followed the example set by Allianz Spain and adapted its system to reflect specific Argentinean demands. We involved agents and brokers in the specification process from the outset.