Results of SEB Elu- ja Pensionikindlustus in 2018

The insurance market shows modest but stable annual growth in Estonia. This is confirmed by the statistics of SEB Elu- ja Pensionikindlustus, in accordance to which in 2018 11,657 new life insurance agreements were concluded, 14.4% more additional cover was added to insurance agreements than in 2017 and people became more interested in the online application for life insurance.

The insurance market shows modest but stable annual growth in Estonia. This is confirmed by the statistics of SEB Elu- ja Pensionikindlustus, in accordance to which in 2018:

• 11,657 new life insurance agreements were concluded;
• 14.4% more additional cover was added to insurance agreements than in 2017; and
• people became more interested in the online application for life insurance.

Most insurance agreements are still concluded to cover the risks associated with loan commitments: last year, SEB Elu- ja Pensionikindlustus concluded 8,534 loan protection insurance agreements.

We have continuously improved the quality of service, increased client awareness, and increased their satisfaction. Thanks to this, our clients find the most suitable and understandable solution for them, which can also be seen in the general market statistics: only 3.3% of SEB insurance agreements were terminated ahead of schedule, which is one of the lowest indicators in the Estonian insurance market.

Insurance benefits

In 2018, 704 insured events occurred with our clients. For these events, we paid a total of over 1.1 million euros in benefits – 34% more than in 2017. We paid most of the benefits for loss of temporary work capacity caused by accidents, but the biggest benefits were paid in the case of death and serious injury of the insured.

In 5% of cases, we refused to pay the benefit. The main reason for the refusal was that there was no qualifying insurance event.

Pension savings and disbursement agreements

As at 31 December 2018:

• 145,543 clients saved their pension funds into SEB's second pillar pension funds and
• 28,369 clients further invested into their future through our third pillar pension funds and life insurance saving solutions.

We have worked hard to ensure that clients trust our investment choices and see pension collection as a long-term contribution, where, in addition to short-term results, the suitable investment strategy and the final result corresponding to the chosen risk level are also important.

From market statistics, we can see that many of our clients also choose to partner with SEB after an active collection phase: in 2018, SEB entered into a second pension pillar disbursement agreement with 313 clients, which is 5% more than in 2017.

The merger of Baltic life insurance companies

SEB's ambition is to provide clients with greater value in life and pension insurance services and solutions in all three Baltic countries. Therefore, we have decided to merge the Baltic life insurance companies to simplify the organisation's operating model. The merging process is expected to be completed in the first half of this year.

Digital solutions

More and more clients prefer to receive insurance documents digitally. That is why we have improved our systems so that the insurance policy and agreement information can safely reach the client by e-mail. We have also made it easier for our clients to notify us of damages and take the steps necessary to obtain the benefits.

As the demand for digital solutions grows, we have also facilitated the lives of parents. With our online application, the client can calculate how much they should collect for their child's future.

Impact of legislation

In the past year, the insurance sector was affected by several pieces of legislation:

• we made adjustments for the implementation of the reform of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union and
• we invested development resources into meeting the requirements of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD).

Communication

As providing financial education is one of SEB's priorities, we continued to raise public awareness about pension and insurance issues:

• we organised seminars on pensions and tax changes all over Estonia;
• for the fourth consecutive year, we conducted a survey on the pension readiness of Estonian residents; and
• we published educational articles on the SEB Forum.

Procedure of accounting for additional profit of agreements

As at the end of 2018, SEB Elu- ja Pensionikindlustus had 29,014 long-term collecting agreements, 16,802 of which were related to additional profit.

Taking into account the interest rates of the financial markets and the return on the investment portfolio, SEB Elu- ja Pensionikindlustus decided on the following when it comes to additional profit in 2018:

• for agreements with non-reducible profits, we do not account for additional profit;
• we will reduce the additional profit of agreements with a reducible profit; and
• for agreements with guaranteed profit, we ensure a profit agreed upon with the client. In accordance with the Funded Pensions Act, SEB Elu- ja Pensionikindlustus is obligated to distribute at least 50% of the profit of pension agreements (second pillar pension for life payments) for each financial year to policyholders. As in 2018, pension agreements earned a technical benefit of €86,823.86, we will account for additional profit for pension agreements.

Personal information related to additional profit accounting will be sent to clients during the first quarter.

If you have any questions, please contact us at the SEB insurance line at 665 8020 or e-mail us at kindlustusleping@seb.ee.