Baloise’s Switzerland business proves robust despite challenging year

Baloise Holding AG / Key word(s): Annual Results Baloise’s Switzerland business proves robust despite challenging year 26.03.2024 / 09:00 CET/CEST 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.