Insurance*

Clemens Markstein, CEO of Baloise Switzerland: “The storm that hit all parts of Ticino in August resulted in an exceptionally high number of claims for the Switzerland business in 2023. Various large claims also weighed on profit for the year. But the business still proved robust despite it being such an exceptional year for claims. The very good growth in premiums in the non-life business was particularly encouraging, as were the strong earnings in the banking business. I am confident that our programme of optimisation is having the desired effect and that we will be able to carry on delivering excellent results in Switzerland.”

• In 2023, the net combined ratio rose by 3.3 percentage points to 98.4 per cent, mainly due to the impact of storm claims and large claims.
• The premium volume in the non-life business recorded a very healthy year-on-year increase of 2.7 per cent to CHF 1,468.7 million.
• EBIT in the life business fell year on year to stand at CHF 181.5 million. Premiums in the individual life business climbed by 1.5 per cent. By contrast, premiums in the group life business were down by 4.6 per cent. This reflected the continuing trend towards partially autonomous occupational pension solutions. The Perspectiva collective foundation continued to deliver encouraging growth in 2023 and now has 4,903 corporate customers with around 21,500 policyholders.
• Baloise has reviewed its ecosystem strategy in respect of the Home and Mobility ecosystems and decided not to invest any further in expanding them. In future, we will concentrate more on insurance-related activities and on generating profits from our current portfolio of innovations.

Banking**   

“Thanks to our expertise in pensions, investments and lending, we are able to offer our customers a range of financial advice that sets us apart in the Swiss market,” says Jürg Ritz, CEO of Baloise Bank Ltd. “And everything that we do is focused on benefit to the individual customer.”

• Significant year-on-year profit growth
  Baloise Bank Ltd increased its profit to CHF 31.2 million in 2023 (up by 21.4 per cent on 2022). 
• Growth in the volume of business
  Combining insurance and banking services represents a big benefit for customers and resulted in a significant increase of CHF 485.9 million in the volume of business. 
• Rising interest rates benefit customers and the banking business
  The end of the period of negative interest rates and the consistent lending policy of Baloise Bank Ltd led to the interest margin on the entire loan book of CHF 7.5 billion increasing substantially in 2023, with very low credit risk costs of CHF 0.2 million. 

Baloise’s business performance in Switzerland

*   All figures in accordance with IFRS accounting.
** All figures in accordance with local accounting standards.

Holiday protection proves a mini insurance revolution

Baloise’s holiday insurance is turning the claims reporting process on its head. Traditionally, it has been the customer who reports a claim and in doing so initiates the process of verifying that claim. But with Baloise’s parametric fair-weather insurance, which can be taken out for the duration of a holiday, the policy becomes active when thresholds for certain parameters are reached, for example a particular volume of rain. Delayed flights are another example of something that will automatically trigger a claim. This makes life easier for policyholders and represents a mini revolution in the conventional claims process.

Baloise wins two of the Swiss insurance industry’s innovation awards

In 2023, Baloise won two of the Swiss insurance industry’s annual innovation awards. Its Rapid Damage Cockpit won the public award and its holiday insurance was the overall runner-up. This reflects the exceptional degree of innovation in Baloise’s core business. The Rapid Damage Cockpit allows Baloise to automatically contact all customers affected by a severe storm. As with the holiday insurance, it shows how Baloise is rethinking the claims process and taking a proactive approach to the reporting of claims, which has traditionally always fallen to the policyholder.

Baloise for SMEs

Baloise is positioning itself as market leader in the all-lines insurance market for business clients and showing how it can support entrepreneurship over the long term. We support small and medium-sized enterprises throughout their lifecycle – from start-up, growth and hopefully success to potential sale or discontinuation – and not just in terms of their insurance needs. In 2023, in addition to numerous other offerings, Baloise hosted webinars on accounting , occupational pension provision for the self-employed, and dealing with skills shortages, each of which reached around 5,000 participants.