Baloise’s Switzerland business proves robust despite challenging year

Basel, 26 March 2024. Last year was challenging for Baloise in terms of its operating performance. The technical result was badly affected by storms and large claims, which saw us protect more than 10,000 customers from significant financial losses. The volume of premiums rose by a healthy 2.7 per cent to CHF 1,468.7 million, driven mainly by the motor vehicle, liability and property insurance sectors. The full-range financial service offering, encompassing insurance and banking services, is proving extremely popular with customers and is continuing to grow steadily across Switzerland.

Baloise Switzerland’s financial results for 2023

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. 

Summary of business performance for the Swiss market

Baloise’s business performance in Switzerland
 

Key figures (CHF million)

2023

2022

+/–%

4'025.7

4'068.8

-1.1

2'557.0

2'638.0

-3.1

1'468.7

1'430.8

2.7

166.2

289.6

-42.6

8‘731.7

8'526.6

0.8

31.2

25.7

21.4

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

Highlights from 2023

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.

Contact
Baloise, Aeschengraben 21, CH-4002 Basel
Website: www.baloise.com
E-Mail: media.relations@baloise.com / investor.relations@baloise.com
Media Relations: Tel: +41 58 285 76 09
Investor Relations: Tel: +41 58 285 81 81

About Baloise
The focus is firmly on the future at Baloise. We aim to make tomorrow more straightforward, safer and more carefree for our customers, and we are taking responsibility for this today. Baloise is more than just a traditional insurance company. Through our smart finance and insurance solutions, we offer a complete service package. Dependable support, reliable cooperation and trust-based relationships are key aspects of our stakeholder interaction. We take care of financial matters so that our customers can concentrate on the important things in their lives and can find inspiration in the everyday. Baloise, a European company founded more than 160 years ago, currently employs 8,000 people at its headquarters in Basel (Switzerland) and across its subsidiaries in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. Our services generated a business volume of around CHF 8.6 billion in 2023. Baloise Holding Ltd shares (BALN) are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.