Grazer Wechselseitige Versicherung or Graz Mutual Insurance Company is one of the largest Central European insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 companies. Its headquarters are located in Graz, Austria.

History

GRAWE was founded in 1828 by Archduke Johann as an "insurance institute for Styria, Carinthia

Carinthia (province)

Slovenian Carinthia or Slovene Carinthia, most commonly simply Carinthia is a traditional region in the north of Slovenia. It has no official status as an administrative unit within Slovenia, although the association with an informal province is still quite common.The region is referred to as...

 and Carniola

Carniola

Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...

", with an original focus purely on fire insurance.

Subsidiaries

GRAWE is the fifth largest insurance group in Austria. GRAWE has subsidiaries in Central and Eastern European countries such as Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, Moldova

Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

, Macedonia, and Montenegro

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

.

Serbia

GRAWE Osiguranje a.d. was registered as the first insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 company with foreign capital in Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

. The company entered the Serbian market in 1997. GRAWE started out as a Greenfield investment with the aim to grow and develop in the Serbian market.

Partnerships

GRAWE has agreements with Kärntner Landesversicherung (Carinthian insurance), Niederösterreichischen Versicherung (Lower Austrian insurance), Oberösterreichischen Versicherung (Upper Austrian insurance), Tiroler Versicherung (Tirolean insurance), and Vorarlberger Landesversicherung (Vorarlberg insurance). The network is called the Vereinigung Österreichischer Länderversicherer (Insurers association of Austrian countries).

GRAWE group

In addition to the insurance sector, the Group is also involved in real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 management (e.g.,GRAWE Property Management Ltd, STIWOG), banks, and various investment

Investment

Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...

s, with many affiliate

Affiliate

An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...

s (e.g., Capital Bank GRAWE Group Ltd, Security KAG, Bank Burgenland Hypo Group Alpe Adria).

Size

The annual premium income of the Group (the "GRAWE Group") amounted 693.7 million euros in the fiscal year 2007. The number of managed contracts is just under 3.7 million.

Management

Director General of GRAWE is Dr. Othmar Ederer.

Board President, Dr. Franz Harnoncourt-Unverzagt, traditionally, a direct descendant of the founder.

External links

• GRAWE osiguranje a.d.o. (Serbia)
• GRAWE osiguranje a.d. Podgorica (Montenegro)
• GRAWE Bulgaria (Bulgaria)