Elämänturva20.2.2025LocalTapiola Group’s financial statement presentation for 1 January–31 December 2024: A billion euros of lifelong security – Finns were paid more claims than ever beforeDuring the high-claims year, LocalTapiola was strongly focused on its core mission: helping our owner-customers in their daily life when something happens. The group’s operating result was EUR 631 million and total result was EUR 836 million. The own investment assets of the group’s insurance companies generated a profit of EUR 730 million. The strong investment result guarantees that we are standing on a solid foundation in protecting the health, finances and property of our customers.

Key figures, LocalTapiola Group, 1–12/2024 (1–12/2023)

• Premiums written, direct non-life insurance, EUR million: 1,511 (1,408)
• Premiums written, term life insurance, EUR million: 147 (137)
• Net sales, savings life insurance, EUR million: 66 (302)
• Assets under management (gross), EUR billion: 32.3 (28.6)
• Customer bonuses, EUR million: 165 (149)
• Number of customers, thousand: 1,819 (1,792)
• Non-life insurance combined ratio, %: 96.2 (85.7)
• Non-life insurance cost ratio, %: 29.9 (30.8)
• Operating result, EUR million: 631 (494)
• Total result, EUR million: 836 (628)

Comment by Chair of the Board of Directors Jari Eklund:“The wheezing economic growth and measures to balance the fiscal position weakened Finns’ trust in the safety nets of the welfare state. The need for lifelong security was greater than ever, and LocalTapiola Group recorded a strong result.According to a study we conducted polling various issues related to people’s daily life, 43 per cent of Finns do not think that the community primary healthcare services provided are adequate. In 2021, this figure was at 30 per cent. The challenges faced by the public healthcare system are reflected to insurers not only as a growing demand for insurance, but also in the fact that Finns are using their health insurance cover more than previously. At the same time, prices for health services have gone up, and the entire sector has been grappling with the profitability of health insurance. Polarisation is often fomented between the public healthcare system and private service providers, even though both are part of the same healthcare package. Solutions to problems need to be found together so that we can protect the health of Finns now and in future. Insurers are keeping a close eye on for example the debate around the family-doctor model, hoping for courage to reform our healthcare system as a whole, with the core objective of improving timely access to care.On the investment market, the year was excellent, though unfortunately outside Finland. The performance of the Helsinki Stock Exchange remained near zero while stock markets in the United States made profits in the region of 25 per cent. Once again, our saving and investment sales achieved an excellent result, EUR 1.0 billion, but the weak pull of the economy was also reflected in redemptions, the number of which increased. Buffers have depleted, and Finns needed their invested assets. The own investment assets of the LocalTapiola Group insurance companies generated a profit of EUR 730 million (in 2023, EUR 400 million). The strong investment result guarantees that we are standing on a solid foundation in protecting the health, finances and property of our customers. At the start of the year, we increased our stake in Pihlajalinna to 26.99 per cent. In August, we sold our holding in Mehiläinen after achieving the targets we had set for this investment.As a result of declining interest rates, the wheels of the economy are starting to turn again. We have already witnessed the first signs of recovery: order books are increasing slightly, and businesses feel confident about the future. Economic recovery would be welcome news not only for households in general, but also for Finnish investors, who still have more than 80 per cent of the listed stocks they own tied up in Finland. Growth on the Helsinki Stock Exchange would bolster diminished savings buffers, encouraging more people to invest, grow their wealth and diversify their assets.On the real estate market, the year was difficult. In spite of this, the situation with our top real estate investment product, the LocalTapiola Investment Real Estate fund, which is also offered to households, remained stable. Should interest rates decline as expected, financing costs will decrease and return requirements on the real estate market will not increase further. Indeed, the decrease in real estate values seems now to have been arrested, and we are likely to be witnessing the bottoming out of markets.Over the year, there was bad news on employment, and no immediate relief seems to be in sight. In the long term, however, the shortage of talents will not be easing up, and businesses will strive to retain them. Last autumn, we conducted a comprehensive survey to gauge how Finns feel about the remuneration of staff, revealing that benefits including extra insurances and personnel funds have a major impact on staff commitment. With the safety nets of society thinning, employer-provided benefits ranging from comprehensive occupational healthcare to personnel funds and to supplementary pensions which support pension accrual are becoming competitive advantages.The strong result achieved by LocalTapiola Group means that we can strengthen our services and customer benefits and reform our activities in line with customer wishes and needs. Our historically large investment programme to reform the group’s core systems is progressing as planned.Starting from May 2025, Sari Heinonen, who in January was elected to become President of LocalTapiola Group, will be guiding our strong and solvent corporate group towards the new strategy period and increasingly better lifelong security for our more than 1.8 million customers.”Comment by Group Business Director Pekka Antikainen:“The early part of the year witnessed so many frozen pipes, crashing cars and sprained ankles that, over the course of the entire year, we paid a total of EUR 1,035 million (in 2023, EUR 928 million) in non-life insurance claims. The amount of non-life insurance claims that we paid thus exceeded the one billion mark for the first time ever. We paid the most claims for property and business (EUR 335 million) and casco motor incidents (EUR 265 million) as well as under voluntary personal insurance policies (EUR 164 million). The biggest growth, 18 per cent, was experienced in the amount paid for casco motor claims. For property and business claims, we paid out 14 per cent more than in 2023. From non-life insurance, we obtained a total of EUR 1,511 million in premiums written (in 2023, EUR 1,408 million), and our operating result was EUR 631 million (in 2023, EUR 494 million). Our solvency ratio remained strong, being 202 per cent at year-end.In addition to the exceptionally harsh and unpredictable winter weather, claims expenditures were increased by major fire claims, which affected businesses in higher numbers than normally. This development was also underpinned by a pervasive increase in prices, which had delayed implications for claims expenditures, by a single catastrophe claim that occurred early in the year, and by the increase of the standard rate of VAT in the autumn. What all this highlights is that, last year, we were strongly focused on our core mission, that is, helping our customers in their daily life when something happens. Thanks to the persistent efforts of our Claims Advisors, the record-high numbers of claims were processed on time. The group’s strong investment in digital service was evident in customer behaviour: some 70 per cent of claims were filed either online or through a partner (in 2023, 64%). The brisk processing of claims and service in channels which customers welcome reflected as increased customer satisfaction. The proportion of customers recommending LocalTapiola has been growing uninterruptedly for the past five years.Last year challenged the entire sector, but our good reputation and high customer retention rate safeguarded our position on the market. Our premiums written from non-life insurance increased EUR 103 million. LocalTapiola Life recorded the best result in its history, and LocalTapiola’s investment clients fetched on their assets a total return of EUR 508 million. Our position is strong, but we should not be complacent about this. As outlined in our lifelong security strategy, in future as well as today, we will be investing in the best service in the sector personally, locally and by digital means, developing our customer benefits and honing our activities to make them increasingly efficient, so that our owner-customers can get as much value for their money as possible.Motor liability insurance is the cornerstone of LocalTapiola’s operations, in which we increased our market leader position to 37 per cent. At the same time, LocalTapiola Finance emerged as the second largest motor vehicle finance company in Finland with a market share of 17 per cent (in 2023, 16%). The electrification of transport continued, although new car sales were sluggish. Last year, already nearly one half of the cars registered were plug-in models. However, the volume of claims for electric cars, and their repairability, susceptibility to being damaged and how their batteries should be finally disposed of, continue to be surrounded by a high degree of uncertainty. According to a study we conducted polling various issues related to people’s daily life, one half of Finns consider the high costs of repairing battery damage a key reason why electric vehicles are not gaining popularity more quickly in Finland. For our part, we strive to curb the rise in costs by investing in the circular economy within our claims handling. Together with our claim partners, we launched a trial to carry out repairs using reused spare parts taken from damaged vehicles. The aim is to lower the price tag for repairs and decrease environmental load particularly in electric car claims.With the climate changing, the unpredictable weather conditions experienced early in the year are likely to be repeated. As outlined in our recently published climate policy, LocalTapiola is committed to climate change mitigation and adaptation. As part of LocalTapiola General’s Report of the Board of Directors, LocalTapiola Group will publish its first CSRD sustainability report as required under the Accounting Act. Sustainability risk management is an element in normal business risk management but, with the economy spluttering, businesses are stretched for resources to cut emissions and adapt to climate risks. Last year, the donation made from our contingency reserve enabled 218 businesses to participate in the Finland Chamber of Commerce’s Climate Programme free of charge. 88 per cent of the businesses responding to the feedback survey said that, after the Programme, they had taken concrete actions to reduce emissions, while 65 per cent of respondents described having drawn up a dedicated emissions reduction roadmap for their company. The Climate Programme was followed up in January, and this year the donation by LocalTapiola will help as many as 306 small and medium-sized enterprises to take part. All in all, last year, our group companies provided a total of EUR 5.4 million in support to various entities enabling, inter alia, the installation of more than 100 Välkky alarms to protect pedestrian crossings across Finland, as well as the donation to Ukraine of eight security containers designed for rescue personnel.”In May 2024, Juha Koponen announced that he would be leaving his position as President of LocalTapiola Group. The functions of President have been discharged on a temporary basis by Group Director Jari Eklund as Chair of the Boards of Directors of LocalTapiola General and LocalTapiola Life, and by Group Business Director Pekka Antikainen in operational functions. On 15 January 2025, Sari Heinonen (PhD (Economics and Business Administration)) was appointed as the new President of LocalTapiola Group starting at the beginning of May. Ms Heinonen’s start is subject to approval by the Financial Supervisory Authority.Read the full financial statement presentation and business function-specific details here.

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