The mutual partners Gjensidige NOR of Norway, Länsförsäkringar of Sweden and Tapiola of Finland presented growth in market shares in the meeting of Nordic Alliance on September 23, 2004. The partners share mutuality as their corporate value.
Nordic Alliance was founded 1990, and the active co-operation covers several organisational levels in the companies. Through discussions and change of experiences, the senior management of the companies receive significant support from each other. The rest of the organization cooperates for example in the fields of product development and IT. The parties find the cooperation meaningful and useful for the clients of each company.
Largest Non-life Insurer in Norway Appreciates Change of Experiences
- Gjensidige NOR is the only major general mutual insurance company in Norway. Nordic Alliance creates a useful network for sharing ideas and experiences on the challenges for modern mutual companies, comments Helge Baastad, CEO of Gjensidige NOR.
- All three parties in Nordic Alliance are major players in their markets. In addition, I am glad to have warm and good connections to my colleagues in Tapiola and Länsförsäkringar. Nordic Alliance provides also an opportunity to discuss the cultural and corporate similarities in three major mutual insurance companies.
Most Successful Swedish Finance Group Not to Expand Geographically
- Länsförsäkringar is one of the major finance groups in Sweden. At the moment, we are the only group in Sweden offering the full range of financial services from non-life insurances and life insurance to bank services, states Tommy Persson, Managing Director Länsförsäkringar AB.
- Our strategy is to grow successfully by expanding the range of products in Sweden. Geographical expansion is not in the core of our business at the moment.
- These are the reasons why the cooperation with Tapiola and Gjensidige is of great importance for us. Receiving influences from other markets and companies, as well as an organized change of experiences, provide us with an important input for our development activities. Certain fields, such as reinsurance and IT, offer opportunities to broaden the cooperation.
- All three parties in Nordic Alliance share mutuality as their corporate value. This makes the cooperation significantly easier, Tommy Persson adds.
Nordic Cooperation of Significance in Launching of Tapiola Bank
- Personally, the cooperation forms a channel for extremely valuable change of experiences and ideas with the senior directors in Swedish and Norwegian insurance business. Our Nordic partners are responsible for a long-term process for vast interest groups. In this work they have done their share very successfully, comments Asmo Kalpala, President of Tapiola Group.
- I have been a member in the board of Nordic Alliance since the beginning in 1990. Therefore, I have been able to see the different stages of development and get acquainted with the people participating in the cooperation. This has significantly added more value to our cooperation, since Tapiola Group has developed to a complete finance group by launching its bank services.
- In addition, the cooperation has resulted in an important Nordic support for my work in the interest bearing for the mutual insurance companies when serving for the board of AISAM, the international association of mutual insurance companies, Asmo Kalpala states.