Success for Sympany in its anniversary year
Sympany has again been able to increase its profits compared with the previous year.
Sympany's profit after surplus sharing for 2014 totalled CHF 21.7 million, a figure well above the CHF 11.8 million reported in the previous year. Looking to the future, Sympany is using this good result to enhance its solidity. This will make possible, not only now but also in the future, a stable and sustainable premium strategy, as well as investments in products and services that make life easier.Basel, 15. April 2015 - Sympany has again been able to increase its profits compared with the previous year. Its profit after surplus sharing stands at CHF 21.7 million, a significant increase over the previous year's figure of CHF 11.8 million. With the aim of giving its customers a share in the profit for 2014, Sympany has set aside CHF 1.8 million from VVG supplementary insurance, which will be paid out to policyholders in spring this year.
CEO Dr Ruedi Bodenmann said: «Sympany has marked the 100th year of its existence with successful development and has again been able to acquire many new customers. With an eye to the future, we are using the substantial profit to enhance the company's solidity. This will enable us to continue, in future, to develop the business in a sustainable way in an increasingly high-risk environment; it also affords us scope for further innovations.»
Increase in premium volume
Sympany's total premium volume increased in 2014 by 1.8 percent compared with the previous year, reaching CHF 907 million. In parallel with premium volume, net benefits paid by Sympany for medical treatment also increased. Across private and corporate customer business, they reached CHF 820 million, CHF 17 million or 2.1 percent more than in the previous year. Basic KVG insurance in particular increased thanks to a large number of new customers.
In private VVG insurance, supplementary medical expenses insurance continues to be very profitable. The situation as regards loss of salary insurance, however, remains problematic. The costs of these benefits reflect the fact that illness more and more frequently results in incapacity to work. The biggest increase is to be seen in psychosomatic and musculoskeletal illnesses.
The efficiency programme launched four years ago is on course and in 2014 brought about an 11.3 percent reduction in administrative costs. Sympany also achieved yet another encouraging financial result. Its investments performed very well despite a conservative investment strategy.
This enabled Sympany to put aside substantial provisions in the 2014 financial year, although some CHF 12 million were taken off the underwriting result in the process. Enhanced efficiency and simplified processes also helped to considerably reduce the amount of pending documentation from its level of the previous year, which triggered a one-off adjustment to the profit and loss account of some CHF 9 million for benefit costs. At around CHF 13 million, the underwriting result, adjusted for these one-off special effects, is slightly higher than in the previous year.
Quality and lower costs keep customers loyal
Sympany has been able to continue its growth trend and increase the number of its private customers by 5.3 percent to some 224,000. However, conditions in corporate customer business remain challenging. In this segment, Sympany is focusing its measures primarily on improving profitability.
Faced with a continuing increase in the amount of documentation needing to be processed, Sympany further streamlined its processes and procedures in the 2014 financial year. These measures have enabled Sympany to enhance the quality of its services. Its reliable premiums policy and improved quality are highly valued by its customers, who remain faithful to the firm over an above-average length of time.
Innovation through new services and products
Success and solidity bring with them scope for innovation: through new and appealing services and products, Sympany is making its customers' lives easier. The Sympany Mobile app, for example, which was launched early this year, offers policyholders greater independence, giving them the easiest possible overview of their benefit statements at all times. The app is already very popular among customers of all ages, and not just the younger policyholders. Sympany has also developed, within its flex line, two new products aimed not only at especially discerning.