We have reached the last few days of this year. Inevitably we review and look back to the key moments of 2017.
It was a year of extraordinary experiences, with challenging projects and many ‘macro’ changes that are also reflected at a ‘micro’ level, changes in our work structures, a year with many recruitment interviews, during which we met some extraordinary people, some of whom we welcomed as our colleagues.
For CertAsig 2017 was a year of big changes and it started at full speed, with a significant change in our way of working and with the launch of our centers of underwriting excellence. We finished the year with an even more cohesive and solid team. Our new structure makes us more efficient and mirrors our business model. The model has proven to be successful. Brokers now have direct access to the underwriters who build customised insurance solutions for each request and client, depending on the area of underwriting expertise needed.
Also at the beginning of the year, we started to underwrite Czech corporate business from Bucharest (based on the Freedom of Services EU Directive). We opened a representative office in Prague, where we have already recruited 3 colleagues, with over 10 years of experience on the Czech insurance market.
CertAsig’s investments, both in Romania as well as in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, are reflected not only in the numbers, but also in the people who make up our company. We constantly invest in professional training of our employees because we need highly skilled and motivated people who want to grow and excel in their profession.
This year our company grew to 100 employees and we like to believe that our team is currently at its strongest. For us it is very important to know each of our employees, to know what they want and what they are capable of. We try to maintain this standard, even though our team has grown significantly.
The “team” concept is at the center of our philosophy, we encourage our employees to be proactive, to see what is around them and beyond their own job, to engage in new, challenging projects which help them discover new skills and perhaps new directions of development. We create the framework and the context for our employees to be heard, so that they, in turn, have the ability to listen and respond effectively to the needs of their colleagues, of our clients, brokers and partners.
Now we are at the end of the year, the holidays are coming and we are preparing for our annual “Christmas Party” and “Secret Santa”, two of the events that are part of the CertAsig tradition and which our employees look forward to. This year we have a “60’s” theme; we are looking forward to seeing the outfits and perhaps even a prize for the most interesting!
And the new year will start with the same festive mood, with another event which we hold very dear and which has become tradition, the “New Year Cocktail Party” in Bucharest, where we will be joined by over 200 business partners.
We are looking forward to 2018, which will be CertAsig’s 15th year in the market. It will, as ever, be a year of many challenges.
To end, we thank our colleagues for their commitment and dedication, both those who have been with us for a while, as well as the new colleagues who joined our team in the course of the year and who placed their trust in our ability to evolve, grow and develop together.